How computers understand the *meaning* of words, not just the spelling.
Embeddings are a way to turn words into numbers (coordinates on a map).
Instead of "Apple", the computer sees: [0.9, 0.1, 0.5]
Instead of "Orange", it sees: [0.8, 0.1, 0.5]
Notice how the numbers are similar? That tells the computer, "Hey, these two things are related!"