Duplication

How to spell duplication

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce duplication

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does duplication mean?

1. nounThe act of copying or repeating something, or an unnecessary repetition of work or material.

Duplication in a sentence

• The audit found costly duplication between the two departments.

• Careful version control prevents the duplication of files across the server.

Where does duplication come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb duplicare, meaning 'to double' or 'to fold over', which was built from duplex 'twofold' and ultimately from duo 'two' plus plicare 'to fold'. The Latins formed the noun duplicatio for the act of doubling, and that passed into Old French as duplicacion before settling into English in the early 1400s. The buried sense of folding is shared by a surprising family of relatives, including 'pliable', 'complicated', and 'employ', all of which carry the plicare 'fold' root. The spelling trap sits in the unstressed middle: writers can blur the '-plic-' and forget the single 'c', or hesitate over whether the ending is '-ation' or '-ication'. Remembering the parent word 'duplicate' keeps the structure clear, since duplication simply adds the action ending to that familiar stem.

How the word is built

• du- (from duo: two)
• plic (from plicare: to fold)
• -ation (noun of action)