What does photocopied mean?
Photocopied is the past tense and past participle of photocopy, used especially as an adjective to describe a document, image, or other material reproduced with a photocopier. It often appears in administrative and educational settings, as in “a photocopied form” or “photocopied notes.” The word is distinct from photographic, which relates to photography more generally, and from printed, which describes material produced through a printing process. Photocopied documents may be less legible or have less value than originals, especially when they have been copied repeatedly. As a verb form, it describes the action that has already taken place: “The instructor photocopied the worksheet before class.” The related noun photocopy and agent noun photocopier remain common in both British and US English.
Produced by reproducing an original with a photocopier.
"We received a photocopied version of the contract."
Common in formal, educational, and administrative contexts.
Past tense and past participle of photocopy.
"The secretary photocopied the letter before sending it by post."
Used as a finite past-tense verb or as a past participle, including after forms of have or be.
Photocopied words began as images on paper, but a single copied page can now carry a surprising amount of information—and blur it along the way.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does photocopied come from?
The word combines the combining form photo-, from Greek phōtós meaning “light,” with the English word copy. The technology developed in the 20th century, and photocopy became a familiar term for making reproductions with an office machine. The related word photograph entered English much earlier and helped establish the modern sense of a reproduced image. Photocopier and photography use the same photograph- or photo- element, reflecting the shared relationship between images, light, and reproduction.
Related word forms
How photocopied is actually used
The term is common in administrative, educational, and archival contexts. It can sometimes suggest that a document is less convenient to read or less authentic than the original.
Easily confused with photocopied
Photocopied means reproduced by a photocopier, whereas photographic relates more broadly to photographs or the process of taking photographs.
A photocopied document is reproduced with a copier, while a printed document is produced by a printing process.