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Original · left

Mask (face covering)

A fabric covering worn across the face for costume disguise, medical protection, or theater.

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

Mask (machine learning)

A binary array applied over text tokens or image pixels to hide specific data during neural network training.

First in use: c. 2017

Mask / Mask (face covering) / Mask (machine learning)

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

Halloween and N95s vs. attention masks.

Which meaning of Mask is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Mask (face covering) came first (ancient / pre-modern). Mask (machine learning) arrived in 2017. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Mask (face covering)Mask (machine learning)
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

Share-of-attention line loads here.

The case for each meaning

Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes

Original · ancient / pre-modern

Mask (face covering)

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Duplicate · c. 2017

Mask (machine learning)

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More duplicated terms

AI & machine learning