replicant

[rep-li-kuhnt]

noun

1. (in science fiction) a robot or other artificial being in the form of a human or other creature.

Word History and Origins

Origin of replicant¹

First recorded in 1620–30; current sense was coined by David Peoples, U.S. screenwriter (born 1940), for the film Blade Runner (1982); from Late Latin replicant-, stem of present participle replicāns, from replicāre “to fold back”; re- ( def. ), ply ², -ant

Example Sentences

Hawley and the actor jointly decided to assign this physical trait to Kirsh, a visual ode to Roy Batty, Rutger Hauer’s formidable Replicant from “Blade Runner,” another of Scott’s futuristic fables.

Read more on Salon

Owens, who died in 2015, made a cameo appearance as Space Ghost replicant “Gary” in a Season 5 episode of “Coast to Coast.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“That’s how ideas work. Grand ideas evolve. The next step is ‘Blade Runner,’ where you get Roy Batty as an evolved replicant, a human who’s not human, but actually in essence, in old terminology, a robot.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

There’s a fierce debate about whether such “replicant” speech, even if it’s political in nature, can be regulated.

Read more on Scientific American

There's a fierce debate about whether such "replicant" speech, even if it's political in nature, can be regulated.

Read more on Salon