What is "phenocopy"

n. (context genetics English) A variation in an organism that resembles a genetic one, but has an environmental rather than a genetic cause, and is not inherited vb. (context genetics English) To copy a genetic variation through environmental manipulation

A phenocopy is a variation in phenotype (generally referring to a single trait) which is caused by environmental conditions (often, but not necessarily, during the organism's development), such that the organism's phenotype matches a phenotype which is determined by genetic factors. It is not a type of mutation, as it is non-hereditary.

The term was coined by Richard Goldschmidt in 1935. He used it to refer to forms, produced by some experimental procedure, whose appearance duplicates or copies the phenotype of some mutant or combination of mutants.