Please check this article: The two clipboards in Linux
X clipboard
The X window system has its own clipboard. It is also known as a cutbuffer. Any text or content you mark by highlighting with the mouse cursor is automatically copied to this clipboard. This is known as the PRIMARY selection or X Window selection or just selection in X jargon. When you middle-click the mouse cursor at the destination location, this copied content is pasted there.
Window manager clipboard
In addition to the X clipboard, your window manager or desktop environment (like KDE or GNOME) typically maintains its own clipboard. It might even have a clipboard manager which can maintain a historical buffer of content copied to the clipboard.
Typically, text or content is copied to this clipboard when you highlight it and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C
or right-click with the mouse and choose Copy. Content from this clipboard is pasted when you use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V
or right-click with the mouse and choose Paste.