probit

English

Etymology

Blend of probability +‎ unit. Coined by American statistician Chester Ittner Bliss in 1934: “These arbitrary probability units have been termed ‘probits’…”

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbɪt/
• (General American, dialects of Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑbɪt/

  • Audio (Milwaukee, Wisconsin):

    (file)

• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbɪt/
• (Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɔbɪt/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbət/, [ˈpɹɔ̟bət]
• Rhymes: -ɒbɪt

Noun

probit (plural probits)

1. (statistics) A unit, derived from a standard normal distribution, used in measuring the responses to doses.
   • 2002, chapter 5, in Behavioral Models‎^[1], UC Berkeley, archived from the original on 12 November 2025, page 101,119:

     The only limitation of probit models is that they require normal distributions for all unobserved components of utility. […] In the current section, I describe three simulators that are applicable for probits of any form: accept–reject, smoothed accept– reject, and GHK.

2. The probit function, the inverse of the standard normal cumulative distribution function.

Related terms

• logit

See also

• bit

Chinese

Etymology

From clipping of English probability.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): po⁶ bit¹

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: po⁶ bit¹
    • Yale: poh bīt
    • Cantonese Pinyin: po⁶ bit⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: po⁶ bid¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʰɔː²² piːt̚⁵/

Noun

probit

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, mathematics) probability