AI inference glossary
Model architecture

N-gram embedding

Also known as multi-token embedding

In plain English

An n-gram embedding gives a short sequence of tokens a learned vector that the model can look up.

Technical definition

An n-gram embedding maps a local sequence of n tokens to learned vector features, extending the vocabulary of patterns beyond individual tokens.

Engineering details

Repeated names, code fragments, and common phrasing can activate these lookups. The article examines examples through Engram gate scores, but selects examples for interest rather than treating them as a representative ranking of memory use.

Why it matters

Local token patterns make lookup addresses available without waiting for hidden-state computation. That property supports prefetching and sparse parameter offload, although it does not prove that every retrieved feature is useful on every occurrence.

How to read it in InferenceX

The Engram gate scan does not establish how often each pattern appeared during training or how much table capacity a category occupies. A high gate score also does not measure access frequency, so it is insufficient for choosing which rows to cache.