quintile

American  

[kwin-til, -tahyl] / ˈkwɪn tɪl, -taɪl /

noun

1. Statistics. a quantile for the special case of five equal proportions.

2. Astrology. a quintile aspect.

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adjective

1. Astrology. of or relating to the aspect of two heavenly bodies that are one fifth of the zodiac, or 72°, apart.

quintile British  

/ ˈkwɪntaɪl /

noun

1. an aspect of 72° between two heavenly bodies

2. a fifth part of a distribution

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Etymology

Origin of quintile

1600–10; < Latin quīnt ( us ) fifth + -ile (as in quartile )

Example Sentences

For each dollar of taxes paid by the bottom quintile of taxpayers they received $6.17 in gross government transfers, compared with 11 cents received by the top quintile, the Tax Foundation found in a 2023 report.

From Barron's

Susan Bao: I work with 20 sector analysts who rank stocks in each sector across five quintiles, with cheap stocks in the top quintile and expensive ones at the bottom.

From Barron's

Comparing that index to the S&P 500 from 1985 to 2025, he found that stocks returned an average 19% when uncertainty was in its highest quintile versus an 11.6% return the rest of the time.

From Barron's

At the same time, uncertainty has sat in the highest quintile 43% of the time, more than double the average before October 2022, Paulsen wrote in an article on Substack External link.

From Barron's

Sixty-two percent of the children who grew up in the poorest fifth of all households in the ’70s and ’80s worked their way up to a higher income bracket as adults, some all the way to the top quintile.

From The Wall Street Journal