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Original · left

Stream (water)

A natural, narrow, flowing body of fresh water meandering over rocks between small banks.

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

Stream (computing)

A continuous, sequential transmission of data chunks piped and processed incrementally without buffering the entire payload at once.

First in use: the 1960s

Stream / Stream (water) / Stream (computing)

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

Creeks vs. data streams.

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

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Stream (water)Stream (computing)
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

Stream (water)

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Duplicate · the 1960s

Stream (computing)

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