quintile

noun

quin·​tile ˈkwin-ˌtī(-ə)l 

: any of the four values that divide the items of a frequency distribution into five classes with each containing one fifth of the total population

also : any one of the five classes

Did you know?

Breaking Down the Meaning of Quintile

Many people have a deep interest in statistics about themselves, whether the information provided is about income, ice-cream consumption, or trash production. And any such rating can be divided into fifths, or quintiles. The fifth or lowest quintile would include the 20 percent of the population who make the least money or eat the least ice cream or generate the least trash, and the first quintile would include the 20 percent who make, eat, or generate the most.

Examples of quintile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Nearly a century later, men from the bottom 20% comprise approximately 13% of the male college-going population, and women from families in the bottom income quintile comprise almost 20% of female college goers. —Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024

This is important because the top income quintile makes up 40% of personal consumption, and personal consumption makes up approximately 60% of domestic GDP. —Steven Dudash, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Savita Subramanian, equity and quantitative strategist, on Tuesday released a screen for the second quintile of the Russell 1000 by trailing dividend yield. —Alex Harring, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2024

Tax loss selling To pick out the names that are likely to see tax loss selling pressure as the year winds down, Morgan Stanley scanned the S & P 1500, seeking stocks in the top quintile of Wall Street investment ratings on Jan. 16 as a proxy for stocks that are widely held. —Darla Mercado, Cfp®, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin quintus + English -ile entry 2

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above