Irreplicable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A feature or item that possesses such uniqueness that it cannot be duplicated or recreated in any manner
2. Something that cannot be exactly copied or reproduced by any means
3. An object or quality that defies exact replication or imitation

Etymology: "Irreplicable" is a plain formation: the prefix "ir-", a variant of "in-" meaning "not," attached to "replicable," which is itself "replicate" plus the suffix "-able" meaning "capable of being." Put together, the word describes something that is not capable of being copied or reproduced. The prefix is the same negating element found in "irrational" and "irregular," where the "in-" assimilates to "ir-" before a root beginning with "r." The base "replicable" carries the older sense of "replicate," which comes from the Latin "replicare," meaning "to fold back" or "to repeat," and is built from "re-" and "plicare," "to fold." So the sense of duplication in the modern word grows out of an image of folding something back on itself, a single sheet creating a matching copy.

Synonyms: unique, inimitable

Antonyms: replicable, duplicate