Offprints

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Printed copies of a scholarly article or similar work
2. Copies produced from a print source for distribution or personal use
3. Replicas of published research documents intended for sharing or reference

Etymology: "Offprints" is the plural of "offprint," a compound formed from "off" and "print." The "off" element is the familiar adverb meaning away or separate from a main body, so an offprint is literally a print taken off from a larger publication. A scholar receiving a batch of these holds separately printed copies of one article, pulled from the journal or volume in which it first appeared. The construction is plain and transparent: the word describes its own function. Since "print" in the sense of a printed copy has long been used in English, pairing it with "off" simply marks the copy as detached from its original setting. No single coiner or famous episode lies behind the term, so its history is best understood as the logical product of two existing English elements combined to name a specific publishing practice.

Synonyms: reprints, copies, duplicates