kurtosis

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UK/kəˈtəʊ.sɪs/UK/ˌkɜːˈtəʊ.sɪs/Canada, US/kɚˈtoʊ.sɪs/Canada, US/ˌkɝˈtoʊ.sɪs/

noun

A measure of "heaviness of the tails" of a probability distribution, defined as the fourth cumulant divided by the square of the variance of the probability distribution.

OriginAncient Greek κύρτωσις →
UncommonScrabble 12
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Meanings

nounkurtosis (countable and uncountable, plural kurtoses or kurtosises)

plural kurtoses · plural kurtosises

  1. countableuncountablemathematicsA measure of "heaviness of the tails" of a probability distribution, defined as the fourth cumulant divided by the square of the variance of the probability distribution.
  2. countableuncountablemathematicsExcess kurtosis: the difference between a given distribution's kurtosis and the kurtosis of a normal distribution.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekκύρτωσις“a bulging, convexity”
  2. Englishkurtosis

Coined by English mathematician, biometrician, and eugenicist Karl Pearson c. 1895 (published 1899 in "On certain Properties of the Hypergeometrical Series, and so on the fitting of such series to Observation Polygons in the Theory of Chance", Phil. Mag.). From Ancient Greek κύρτωσις (kúrtōsis, “a bulging, convexity”), from κυρτός (kurtós, “bulging, convex”).

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تَفَرْطُح
  • تَفَرْطُح (tafarṭuḥ)measure of "tail heaviness"
Catalan curtosi
  • curtosimeasure of "tail heaviness"
Chinese Mandarin 峰度
  • 峰度 (fēngdù)measure of "tail heaviness"
Czech špičatost, koeficient špičatosti
  • špičatostmeasure of "tail heaviness"
  • koeficient špičatostimeasure of "tail heaviness"
Finnish huipukkuus, kurtoosi
  • huipukkuusmeasure of "tail heaviness"
  • kurtoosimeasure of "tail heaviness"
French kurtosis, coefficient d'aplatissement
  • kurtosismeasure of "tail heaviness"
  • coefficient d'aplatissementmeasure of "tail heaviness"
German Kurtosis, Wölbung
  • Kurtosismeasure of "tail heaviness"
  • Wölbungmeasure of "tail heaviness"
Portuguese curtose
  • curtosemeasure of "tail heaviness"
Russian эксце́сс, коэффицие́нт эксце́сса
  • эксце́сс (ekscéss)measure of "tail heaviness"
  • коэффицие́нт эксце́сса (koefficijént ekscéssa)measure of "tail heaviness"
Spanish curtosis
  • curtosismeasure of "tail heaviness"
Tagalog umbok
  • umbokmeasure of "tail heaviness"
Cite this entry
APA

kurtosis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kurtosis

MLA

“kurtosis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kurtosis. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kurtosis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kurtosis.

Source: kurtosis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.