Dictionary

probit en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɹɒbət/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈpɹɒbɪt/ (Canada, dialectal) of the US
• /ˈpɹɑbɪt/ (General-American, dialectal) of Canada
• /ˈpɹɒbɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• audio Wisconsin
• /ˈpɹɔbɪt/ (Australia)
• [ˈpɹɔ̟bət] (New-Zealand)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. A unit, derived from a standard normal distribution, used in measuring the responses to doses.
   • 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. 2002, chapter 5, in Behavioral Models, UC Berkeley, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2025, page 101,119:
2. The probit function, the inverse of the standard normal cumulative distribution function.

Forms

Relateds

bit · logit