clone

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A copy of something made to look or work just like the original.

   The company sold cheap clones of the popular phone.

2. 2
   noun

   A plant or animal created from a single cell so that it is genetically identical to its parent.

   Scientists produced the first cloned sheep in 1996.

3. 3
   verb

   To make an exact copy of a living thing or an object.

   Researchers managed to clone the sheep successfully.

Simplified etymology

Clone comes from Greek klōn, meaning “twig” or “plant cutting.” First recorded in English in 1903, it initially denoted a group of plants propagated from one original by cuttings or grafts. Its use for the genetic duplication of mammals dates from the early 1970s. Other 1970s uses referred to a slavish imitator, a computer that simulates a more expensive model, and, in gay culture, a gay man adopting an exaggeratedly macho appearance and style of dress.

Coined (in botany) in 1903, based on Ancient Greek κλών (klṓn, “twig”). Figurative use from the 1970s.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary