Past tense of 'chunk': to break something into chunks or pieces, or in computing, to divide data into chunks.
From 'chunk' (a thick, solid piece), which possibly derives from dialectal or informal speech, plus the regular past tense '-ed' suffix. Common in computing terminology since the 1970s.
In computer science, 'chunking' became crucial for internet streaming and data transfer—engineers needed a word for breaking huge files into swallowable pieces, and they repurposed an old informal word; now the term moves between casual speech and technical documentation seamlessly.
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