Emulates

Emulates is the third-person singular present form of emulate. Emulate means to imitate or reproduce the function or behavior of something, usually with an aim to equal or surpass the original. The term is used in everyday language to describe people who imitate others in style or technique, as well as in technical contexts to describe systems that imitate other systems.

Etymology: Emulate derives from Latin aemulari, from aemulus, rival, indicating competition or striving to match.

In computing and electronics, emulation refers to the replication of the hardware or software environment of one system on a different system, enabling programs designed for the original to run there. Emulation seeks to replicate not only outputs but the underlying behavior of the original device, though with varying degrees of fidelity. Emulation is distinct from simulation, which models behavior to study it, and from virtualization, which shares hardware resources to run multiple guest systems. Emulators can be cycle-accurate, instruction-accurate, or functional, reflecting different fidelity levels and performance trade-offs.

Common uses include running classic video game console software on modern PCs, testing embedded software without the original hardware, and enabling legacy applications to operate on new platforms. In non-technical usage, to emulate can also mean to imitate a person’s manner or achievements, such as an artist who emulates a predecessor’s style.

The term emphasizes the goal of achieving the same results or experience as the original, often balancing accuracy with practicality and resource constraints.