Etymology

copycat

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Today it means: One who imitates or plagiarizes the work of others. Full definition →

First used late 19th c.English cat ← Middle English cat ← Old English catt
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The story

  1. Middle Englishcopy
  2. Englishcopy
  3. Proto-Germanic*kattuz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*kattu
  5. Old Englishcatt
  6. Middle Englishcat
  7. Englishcat
  8. English todaycopycat

Originally American English, from copy + cat (“a former derogatory term for a person”).

First known use, by meaning

  • from late 19th c. One who imitates or plagiarizes the work of others.
  • from early 20th c. To act as a copycat; to copy in a shameless or derivative way.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.