Copier

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒpɪə/

Definitions

1. A machine that creates duplicates of documents or images serves as an individual or entity that mimics another's work, while also acting as a product that generates exact copies of originals
2. A device designed to reproduce physical documents or images onto paper ; an individual who replicates another person's style or ideas
3. Equipment used to produce duplicates of printed or written material ; someone who copies the actions or creations of others

Etymology: The copier is one of those words whose surprising part is its ending. "Copy" arrived in English from Latin "copia" (abundance), and the sense of reproducing a text grew out of the idea of making plentiful. The agent suffix "-er" did the rest. English inherited it from Old English "-ere," which passed through Middle English, and it was borrowed in later periods from Old French "-ier," itself descended from Latin "-arius." So "copier" is simply "one who copies," built from an old English-compatible ending attached to a Latin-derived base. Its meaning stretched from a person who made copies, to the machine that now does the job, while the older sense of a person who imitates someone else's work survives alongside it.

Synonyms: duplicator, reproducer