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Original · left

Spot (mark)

A small round mark on a surface.

First in use: the 1100s
Duplicate · right

Spot instance

Spare cloud capacity sold at a steep discount that can be reclaimed at short notice.

First in use: c. 2009

Spot / Spot (mark) / Spot instance

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

A stain vs. cheap spare capacity.

Which meaning of Spot is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Spot (mark) came first (the 1100s). Spot instance arrived in 2009. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Spot (mark)Spot instance
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 1100s

Spot (mark)

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Duplicate · c. 2009

Spot instance

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More duplicated terms

Cloud & infrastructure