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Original · left

Mermaid (myth)

A legendary sea creature with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish.

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

Mermaid (diagrams)

An open-source tool that turns text descriptions into diagrams and charts, built into GitHub and Notion.

First in use: c. 2014

Mermaid / Mermaid (myth) / Mermaid (diagrams)

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

Diagrams as code, named after a sea creature.

Which meaning of Mermaid is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Mermaid (myth) came first (ancient / pre-modern). Mermaid (diagrams) arrived in 2014. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Mermaid (myth)Mermaid (diagrams)
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

Mermaid (myth)

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Duplicate · c. 2014

Mermaid (diagrams)

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More duplicated terms

Programming & software