Pentile

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of the four points that divide an ordered distribution into five parts, each containing a fifth (20%) of the population. Used commonly for income distributions.
  2. 2
    Obsolete form of pantile (“type of roof tile”). alt-of, obsolete
  3. 3
    Any one of the five groups.

    "Her income placed her in the lowest pentile of the income distribution."

Verb
  1. 1
    To divide into pentiles.

    "Apply pentiling to streamflows at all hydro plant locations from American Falls to Brownlee inflow (i.e. years comprising a pentile at Brownlee are those comprising the pentile at all locations)"

Example

More examples

"Her income placed her in the lowest pentile of the income distribution."

Etymology

From pent- + -ile.

More for "pentile"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.