skewness

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
skew/skjuː/

▶adjective

• 1 neither parallel nor at right angles to a specified or implied line; askew.

• 2 Mathematics (of a pair of lines) neither parallel nor intersecting.

  ■ (of a curve) not lying in a plane.

• 3 Statistics (of a statistical distribution) not symmetrical.

▶noun

• 1 an oblique angle; a slant.

• 2 a bias towards one particular group or subject.

• 3 Statistics the state of not being symmetrical.

▶verb

• 1 suddenly change direction or move at an angle.

• 2 make biased or distorted.

• 3 Statistics cause (a distribution) to be asymmetrical.

– derivatives
skewness noun.

– origin ME: shortening of Old North. Fr. eskiuwer, var. of OFr. eschiver ‘eschew’.