Reproduce

How to spell reproduce

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reproduce

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reproduce mean?

1. verbTo make a copy of something, or to recreate it accurately in another form.
2. verbTo produce offspring; to breed or multiply as living organisms do.

Reproduce in a sentence

• The printer can reproduce the original document in full colour.

• Bacteria can reproduce rapidly in warm, moist conditions.

• The report tried to reproduce the exact wording of the contract.

• These rare frogs only reproduce in clean freshwater pools.

Where does reproduce come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This verb is built from the prefix re-, meaning 'again', joined to the older English verb 'produce', which came from the Latin producere, literally 'to lead forward' or 'to bring forth', from pro- 'forward' and ducere 'to lead'. The same ducere root, meaning 'to lead', survives in a whole family of English words such as 'conduct', 'reduce' and 'aqueduct', which can help you remember the 'duce' spelling at the heart of reproduce. The word entered English in the late 1500s and early 1600s, first in the plain sense of bringing something into existence once more or making a copy of it. By the eighteenth century it had also acquired its biological meaning, describing how living things bring forth offspring. The clean morphology, re- plus produce, is exactly why the spelling is regular: there is no hidden letter, just the prefix attached to a familiar verb.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• produce (to bring forth, from Latin producere)