Etymologically
Log in

unbiased

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word unbiased

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1607 G. Wilkins, The Miseries of Inforst Mariage
Ultimate origin
French biais

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + biased.[1][2][3][4] Biased is the past-participle adjective of the verb bias,[4] whose noun is from French biais (“a slant, slope”), a French word of unknown origin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a bowl in the game of bowls, having no bias: 1607, in G. Wilkins's The Miseries of Inforst Mariage.[1] Etymonline dates the bowling use to about 1600.[4]

Semantic evolution

As with biased, the word passed from the weighted bowl that runs off a straight course to the human mind.[4] The figurative sense, free from undue influence or prejudice, is recorded from 1654 of judgement and feelings, from 1668 of actions and opinions, and of persons by 1686;[1] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.[4] A rare use as an adverb, meaning impartially, appears in Fanny Burney (1796).[1] In statistics, unbiased describes a sample free of factors that distort it, or an estimator whose expected value equals the quantity being estimated.[5][6] The spelling unbiassed is chiefly British.[3][5][2]

Timeline

  • 1607 – of bowls, having no bias.[1][6]
  • 1654 – of the mind or judgement, impartial.[1]
  • 1668 – of actions and opinions.[1]
  • 1686 – of persons.[1]
  • 1796 – as an adverb, impartially (rare).[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Free from bias or prejudice; fair and impartial: an unbiased account of the dispute.[5][6][2]
  2. (statistics) Of a sample, not distorted by factors that affect its distribution; of an estimator, having an expected value equal to the quantity it estimates.[5][6]
  3. Of a bowl in bowls, having no bias.[1][4]

Word family

  • unbiasedly
  • unbiasedness

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Unbiased.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/unbiased. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·