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percentile

percentile

20 6.8
A value that shows what percent of people scored lower, for example on a test
  • noun
  • /pərˈsɛnˌtaɪl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : percentil
  • You're in the top one percentile in the country.
  • the 25th percentile
  • the 50th percentile
  • the 10th percentile

We are in the top, top percentile in terms of the luck that we have had.

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Examples

  • Pearl received the results of her PSATs, and she's in the top tenth percentile of her class.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Well, I mean, Bobby, he is in the 95th percentile, you know.

  • We are in the top, top percentile in terms of the luck that we have had.

  • You are talking about being in an extremely high percentile of people who are living their values.

  • Her final Academy score put her three percentile points below a pass.

  • And l passed the written test... in the top first percentile.

  • - Not only did I make it, but I made it in the top ten percentile.

  • Reporting of trends by percentile changes of greater than 15% has been noted in multiple research studies.

    Academic text (2011)
  • On top of a very successful student council year, I was in the top seventh percentile of my graduating class.

  • Only cities with a population threshold over the 95th percentile of the state were considered in our analysis.

Synonyms

centile
vspercentile
  • Specialized
8.6

One of 99 values that divide a set of numbers into 100 equal groups, each with one percent

is the alternative term used interchangeably in statistical contexts

How Fine

percentile
  • Specialized
20 6.8
decile
  • Specialized
1 8.3
quantile
  • Specialized
7.5
quartile
  • Specialized
2 7.0
median
  • Specialized
106 4.8

Surface Forms

percentile singular
percentiles plural

Morphology

percentile = percent (semi-transparent) = percent + ile

The relation to 'percent' is clear, but the specific statistical meaning of 'percentile' (a cut point in an ordered dataset) is technical and the suffix '-ile' is not a productive, familiar noun-forming element for average learners.

Etymology

Percentile comes from the word percent, which comes from the Latin phrase per centum meaning 'for each hundred'. A percentile is a point that divides a group of numbers into 100 equal parts, so if you are in the 90th percentile you did better than 90% of people.