Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

replicator
     
        Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this
        could be a living organism, an idea (see {meme}), a program
        (see {quine}, {worm}, {wabbit}, {fork bomb}, and {virus}), a
        pattern in a {cellular automaton} (see {life}), or
        (speculatively) a robot or {nanobot}.  It is even claimed by
        some that {Unix} and {C} are the symbiotic halves of an
        extremely successful replicator; see {Unix conspiracy}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]