photocopy

American  

[foh-tuh-kop-ee] / ˈfoʊ təˌkɒp i /

noun

plural

photocopies

1. a photographic reproduction of a document, print, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

photocopied, photocopying

1. to reproduce (a document, print, or the like) photographically.

photocopy British  

/ ˈfəʊtəʊˌkɒpɪ /

noun

1. a photographic reproduction of written, printed, or graphic work See also microcopy

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verb

1. to reproduce (written, printed, or graphic work) on photographic material

Etymology

Origin of photocopy

First recorded in 1920–25; photo- + copy

Example Sentences

Down the sidewalk, I mailed packages for our boys at the pack-and-ship shop, and stopped to photocopy teaching materials for my weekly state-prison volunteering gig.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

Jean shoves a photocopy of an article from the Cook Islands News into my hand.

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2024

Training on AI-generated data is “like what happens when you photocopy a piece of paper and then you photocopy the photocopy. You lose some of the information,” Papernot said.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 6, 2024

The show’s territory starts in 1969, coinciding with the widening availability of photocopy machines, and runs to the present.

From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2024

The documents that took Ellsberg weeks to photocopy would fill a fraction of the space on a ten-dollar flash drive.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin