Where did the phrase "copycat" come from?

Answer 1

Cat has been used to refer contemptibly to people at least as far back as Shakespeare's time ("A pox upon him for me, he’s more and more a Cat", in All’s Well That Ends Well). It was simply paired with copy to refer to someone who mimicked another's actions.

Answer 2

The expression may have originated from observing the habits of kittens that learned by imitating the behaviors of their mother. Copycat has been in recorded use since at least 1896, in Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Country of the Pointed Firs" but the expression could be many decades older.

Answer 3

The expression may have originated from observing the habits of kittens that learned by imitating the behaviors of their mother. Copycat has been in recorded use since at least 1896, in Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Country of the Pointed Firs" but the expression could be many decades older.

Answer 4

In the period of collecting artifacts from Egypt, (1830's) many styalised cat effigies were made by the crafty Egyptians to sell to guilable tourists. So a fake cat, was a 'copy cat', and not the original.

Answer 5

I have never seen cat's copy anyone so I am equally bemused now that you have come to mention it. Some people suggest it is to do with kitten's copying their mothers, but I'm not so sure.

Who is cat anyway?

Answer 6

Yea, it makes me wonder why (it's a word; not a phrase) the word 'copymonkey' isn't coined instead. As in monkey see, monkey do!

Answer 7

get a cat, stick it in a photocopier. see if it does anything special

Answer 8

yeah, what max said

Answer 9

You stole it from me.