copied

Copied is the past tense and past participle of the verb copy. It describes something reproduced from an original, whether physical or digital, and can function as an adjective in phrases like a copied document or copied data.

In computing and information technology, copying is a basic operation that creates a duplicate of data, files, text, or media. Copying can be exact, preserving content and metadata, or may involve transformations such as compression or format changes. In operating systems, common actions include copy and paste, or commands used to duplicate data.

Copyright law governs the copying of protected works. Copying a work without permission can infringe rights, though exceptions exist, including fair use or fair dealing, licenses, and works in the public domain. Educational or personal use is often treated differently depending on jurisdiction. Plagiarism involves presenting someone else’s copied work as one’s own, which many institutions treat as academic misconduct. Temporary copies in memory or caches are typically allowed as part of essential technical processes.

Outside law and technology, the term is used more generally to indicate imitation. A copied design or product imitates another source. The noun copy and related terms such as replica or facsimile are common, and in culture the concept of copying is tied to replication and mimicry, sometimes giving rise to the idea of a “copycat.”