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Original · left

Prompt (punctual)

Punctual and on time, or an action performed to remind or encourage someone to speak.

First in use: the 1300s
Duplicate · right

Prompt (AI)

Natural language input, instruction, or multimodal context provided to a generative model to elicit a specific output.

First in use: c. 2020

Prompt / Prompt (punctual) / Prompt (AI)

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

Being on time vs. instructing a model.

Which meaning of Prompt is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Prompt (punctual) came first (the 1300s). Prompt (AI) arrived in 2020. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Prompt (punctual)Prompt (AI)
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 · the 1300s

Prompt (punctual)

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Duplicate · c. 2020

Prompt (AI)

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More duplicated terms

AI & machine learning