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Original · left

Beam (timber or light)

A long piece of timber or metal, or a ray of light.

First in use: ancient / pre-modern
Duplicate · right

Beam search

A decoding algorithm that keeps the top-k partial sequences at each step.

First in use: the 1970s

Beam / Beam (timber or light) / Beam search

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Duplicate share · 12 mo—
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Colour keyGrey · original meaningGreen · duplicate meaningAmber · contested (40–60%)How colours work

Steel beams vs. decoding.

Which meaning of Beam is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Beam (timber or light) came first (ancient / pre-modern). Beam search arrived in the 1970s. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Beam (timber or light)Beam search
English Wikipedia pageviews since July 2015 load here.

Duplicate's share of attention

Green line = duplicate's % · above 60 it owns the word · below 40 the original does

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The case for each meaning

Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes

Original · ancient / pre-modern

Beam (timber or light)

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Duplicate · the 1970s

Beam search

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More duplicated terms

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