Biased
/ˈbaɪ.əst/noun
Showing a preference that unfairly favors one side or point of view.
Did you know?The word entered English through the game of bowls, where a biased bowl was weighted to curve to one side, and that physical slant became the perfect image for mental unfairness.
Etymological Timeline
Late 16th Century
English
biased
“Past participle/adjectival form of bias, meaning slanted or inclined to one side.”
16th Century
English
bias
“A slant or diagonal line; in bowls, a weight that made the ball curve to one side.”
16th Century
French
biais
“Slant, slope, diagonal direction.”
Late Latin
Late Latin
biaisus
“Likely a form meaning oblique or slanting, though the exact pre-English path is uncertain.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
epikarsios
“Oblique, slanting; a proposed source sometimes linked in older scholarship, though the etymology remains debated.”