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Original · left

Drop (liquid)

A tiny spherical bead of water or condensation falling through the air under gravity.

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

Packet drop

The intentional discarding of an incoming network data packet by a firewall or congested router buffer.

First in use: the 1970s

Drop / Drop (liquid) / Packet drop

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Canonical todayMeasuring…
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Colour keyGrey · original meaningGreen · duplicate meaningAmber · contested (40–60%)How colours work

Raindrops vs. dropped packets.

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

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Drop (liquid)Packet drop
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

Drop (liquid)

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Duplicate · the 1970s

Packet drop

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More duplicated terms

Cloud & infrastructure