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Original · left

Leak (fluid)

A perforation or hairline fracture through which water, fuel, or gas escapes from a pipe.

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

Memory leak

A program bug where dynamic memory, sockets, or file handles remain reserved and unreleased, degrading available system resources over time.

First in use: the 1960s

Leak / Leak (fluid) / Memory leak

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

Dripping pipes vs. unreleased RAM.

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

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Leak (fluid)Memory leak
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

Leak (fluid)

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Duplicate · the 1960s

Memory leak

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More duplicated terms

Programming & software