Clone - Definition and Overview

The term clone is derived from κλων, the Greek word for "twig". In horticulture, the spelling clon was used until the twentieth century. The final e came into use to indicate the vowel is a "long o" instead of a "short o"; see the references below on this point. Since the term entered the popular lexicon in a more general context, the spelling clone has been used exclusively.

• In botany, a clone is a branch that has been cut of from a mother plant below an internode and rooted. See clone (botany).

• In biology, a clone is any organism whose genetic information is identical to that of a "mother organism" from which it was created. See cloning.

• In molecular biology, a clone is an exact replica of all or part of a macromolecule (eg. DNA). See clone (genetics).

• In computer science, a clone is a computer system based on another company's system and designed to be compatible with it. See clone (computer science).

• In algebra, a clone is a set of operations containing all projections, and closed under substitution.

• A clone is also a butch or masculine gay man, though the term is mostly associated with the 70s and 80s. The "clone uniform" is mustach, jeans, and white t-shirt. Contrast with the earlier camp: swish and drag.

• A clone is also a slang term for any car on the road resembling the one you are driving, i.e. same make, model, and color.

References

• C.L. Pollard. "'Clon' versus 'clone'". Science (new series) 22:469, 1905.
• C.L. Pollard. "On the spelling of 'clon'". Science (new series) 22:87-88, 1905.
• W.T. Stearn. "The use of the term 'clone'". Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 74:41-47, 1949.