The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

replicator
 n.

    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,
    sense 1), 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.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

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]