Simulacrum

 
Simulacrum, from the Latin simulacrum (plural simulcra), means "likeness, similarity" is first recorded in the English language in the late 16th century . It was used to describe a representation of another thing, such as a statue or a painting, especially of a god. By the late 19th century, it had gathered a secondary association of inferiority: an image without the substance or qualities of the original; an insubstantial or vague semblance.