Slate gives a detailed explanation that the origin of this term did not come from “…someone who copies, like a cat, but a jerk prone to imitation.” The article gives references to writers, including Shakespeare, using versions of “copycat.” Constance Harrrison wrote in 1887, “Our boys say you are a copy cat, if you write in anything that’s been already printed.” The term evolved from the word cat being was used in medieval times as an insult based on the idea that cats “…were associated with all sorts of evil and mischief.”