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Original · left

Clone (biology)

An organism produced asexually from an existing ancestor with genetically identical DNA.

First in use: c. 1903
Duplicate · right

Clone (Git)

Downloading an identical, fully operational copy of a remote source repository onto a local workstation.

First in use: c. 2005

Clone / Clone (biology) / Clone (Git)

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Colour keyGrey · original meaningGreen · duplicate meaningAmber · contested (40–60%)How colours work

Dolly the sheep vs. git clone.

Which meaning of Clone is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Clone (biology) came first (c. 1903). Clone (Git) arrived in 2005. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Clone (biology)Clone (Git)
English Wikipedia pageviews since July 2015 load here.

Duplicate's share of attention

Green line = duplicate's % · above 60 it owns the word · below 40 the original does

Share-of-attention line loads here.

The case for each meaning

Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes

Original · c. 1903

Clone (biology)

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Duplicate · c. 2005

Clone (Git)

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More duplicated terms

Programming & software