English
replica
Replica comes from Italian replica ‘reply, answer’, from Latin replico ‘to fold or bend back’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold, bend or flex’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreplicoas replicare‘to fold or bend back’
- Italianc. 1300–presentreplica‘reply, answer’
- Englishearliest quotation 2025replica
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold, bend or flex’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreplicoas replicare‘to fold or bend back’
- Italianc. 1300–presentreplica‘reply, answer’
- Englishearliest quotation 2025replica
Earliest quotation: 2025, Tony Streeter, All around the world: “Promontory's "last spike" ceremony was so significant to the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’
complex, fiasco, flax, flack, plexus, flagon, 34 more
through Latin plicō ‘to fold, bend or flex’
apply, display, employment, employ, exploitation, exploit, imply, explicit, deploy, ploy, implicit, ply, complication, accomplice, supple, complicate, inexplicable, complicity, pliable, implicate, supplication, splay, pliant, triplicate, explication, 21 more
through Latin replico ‘to fold or bend back’
Today it means
noun An exact copy.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / replica