Copy

How to spell copy

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce copy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does copy mean?

1. nounA reproduction or duplicate of an original document, image, or object.
2. verbTo reproduce, duplicate, or imitate something.
3. nounWritten material intended for printing, publication, or advertising.

Copy in a sentence

• noun

  Please keep a copy of the signed contract for your records.

• verb

  You can copy the file onto a memory stick before leaving.

• noun

  The editor needed the copy submitted before the print deadline.

• noun

  She handed me a copy of the report before the meeting.

• verb

  Children often copy the behaviour of the adults around them.

• noun

  A clever advertising copy can lift sales noticeably.

Where does copy come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin copia, meaning 'abundance' or 'plenty', the same root that gives us 'copious' and 'cornucopia'. In medieval Latin the phrase copia meant 'a transcript' or the right to reproduce a text, because making a duplicate effectively produced an abundance of the original. The sense narrowed from 'plenty' to 'a faithful reproduction of an original', and English borrowed it through Old French copie in the 1300s. From the noun grew the verb, meaning 'to reproduce or imitate', and later the printing-trade sense of 'text to be set in type'. The spelling stayed short and simple, but the surprise is that a word now tied to duplication once meant sheer abundance.

How the word is built

• copy (from Latin copia: abundance, plenty)