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Original · left

Escape (breaking free)

Breaking free from physical confinement, locked prison bars, or dangerous circumstances.

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

Escape character

Prepending a special marker (like a backslash) to strip a character of its literal syntax interpretation.

First in use: the 1960s

Escape / Escape (breaking free) / Escape character

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

Jailbreaks vs. backslashes.

Which meaning of Escape is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Escape (breaking free) came first (ancient / pre-modern). Escape character arrived in the 1960s. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Escape (breaking free)Escape character
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

Escape (breaking free)

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Duplicate · the 1960s

Escape character

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More duplicated terms

Programming & software