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Original · left

Weight (mass)

The physical heaviness or gravitational pull exerted on a physical object.

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

Weight (neural network)

A learned numerical parameter within a neural network that determines the relative connection strength between nodes.

First in use: the 1950s

Weight / Weight (mass) / Weight (neural network)

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

Bathroom scales vs. model parameters.

Which meaning of Weight is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Weight (mass) came first (ancient / pre-modern). Weight (neural network) arrived in the 1950s. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Weight (mass)Weight (neural network)
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

Weight (mass)

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Duplicate · the 1950s

Weight (neural network)

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More duplicated terms

AI & machine learning