Etymograph

English

duplicate

Duplicate comes from Latin duplicātus ‘doubled, duplicated’, and goes back to duplex ‘twofold’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduplex1‘twofold’next step skipped: Latin duplicō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduplicātus1‘doubled, duplicated’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1819duplicate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English duplicate
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1819, James Hardy Vaux, Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux: “Sir, I hope you will excuse what I am…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduplexWiktionary, English duplicate‘twofold’next step skipped: Latin duplicō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduplicātusWiktionary, English duplicate‘doubled, duplicated’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1819duplicateWiktionary, English duplicate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1819, James Hardy Vaux, Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux: “Sir, I hope you will excuse what I am…”

Linked words

through Latin duplex ‘twofold’

duplex, 3 more

through Latin duplicātus ‘doubled, duplicated’

dupe, 1 more

Today it means

adj Being the same as another; identical, often having been copied from an original.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “duplicate”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin duplex / duplicate

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