student asking question

Nowadays, you could see a lot of streaming platforms on the internet. Does the word streaming come from the word "stream"? If so, could you tell me why?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Good question! The computing term "streaming" means the "method of transmitting or receiving data (especially video and audio material) over a computer network as a steady, continuous flow, allowing playback to start while the rest of the data is still being received." If we consider streaming to be the continuous, stable transmission of data (such as live video), then its movement does resemble the unending flow of water in a stream. However, the verb "stream" is used more generally to mean a flow of anything, not just water. Ex: A stream of people went in and out of the shopping mall. Ex: I'm streaming a concert on my laptop.

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