clone [E20th] The word clone, from Greek klōn ‘twig, cutting from a plant’, is first recorded in 1903, when it referred to a group of plants produced by taking cuttings or grafts from an original. It has been used in the context of the genetic duplication of mammals since the early 1970s. Also 1970s is the use for someone who slavishly imitates someone else and for a computer that simulates another more expensive model, or in gay culture a gay man who adopts an exaggeratedly macho appearance and style of dress.