Cloneable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Able to be duplicated exactly, such as genetic material or digital data
2. Describes something that can be replicated or reproduced faithfully
3. Permitting an exact reproduction or copy to be made from the original

Etymology: "Cloneable" is simply "clone" with the suffix "-able" attached, meaning "capable of being cloned." The base word "clone" comes from Greek "klon," meaning "twig" or "slip," the sort of cutting a gardener takes from a plant to root a new one. That horticultural sense is the original one: a clone is a plant grown from a single cutting, genetically identical to its parent. The suffix "-able" comes from Latin "-abilis," which turns a verb into an adjective meaning "able to be" or "suitable for" the action it names. Attaching it to "clone" produces a word for anything that can be copied in this exact, identical way. The word is a modern formation, built from existing parts as the need arose, rather than a term with a long separate history of its own.

Synonyms: replicable, duplicable, reproducible, copyable, imitable

Antonyms: unique, singular, irreplaceable, nonreplicable, original