means The act of imitating or copying something else — whether a person mimicking speech and gestures, or an organism evolving to resemble another creature or its surroundings for protection.

from From Greek 'mimos,' an actor or imitator — the same root that gives us 'mime' and 'mimic.' The English 'mimicry' is built on 'mimic' (which arrived via Latin 'mimicus') with the noun-making '-ry' tacked on. So at its heart sits a Greek stage performer, aping life so well the word eventually stretched to cover butterflies pretending to be poisonous and insects dressed as twigs.