sigma

See also: Sigma

English

Ancient Greek Alphabet

← rho		→ tau
Σ σ Ancient Greek: σίγμα
Wikipedia article on sigma

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σῖγμα (sîgma), σίγμα (sígma), possibly from the root sig- as seen in σίζω (sízō) (< sig-yo "to hiss") + -μα (-ma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɡmə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

sigma (plural sigmas)

1. The eighteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, the twentieth letter of Old and Ancient.
   • "Herodotus: On The Customs of the Persians", I.139:
     • Their names, which are expressive of some bodily or mental excellence, all end with the same letter---the letter which is called San by the Dorians, and Sigma by the Ionians.
2. (mathematics) The symbol Σ, used to indicate summation of a set or series.
3. (statistics) The symbol σ, used to indicate one standard deviation from the mean, particularly in a normal distribution.
   • 2011, Paul Rincon, (bbc.co.uk) LHC: Higgs boson 'may have been glimpsed'

     None of the spikes seen by the experiments is at much more than the "two sigma" level of certainty.
     A level of "five sigma" is required to claim a discovery, meaning there is less than a one in a million chance the data spike is down to a statistical fluke.

Derived terms

• sigmalike
• within one sigma: the range from the mean, plus or minus one standard deviation, usually covering 68% of the data points in a normal distribution

Translations

letter of the Greek alphabet

• Arabic: سِيغْمَا‎ (ar) f (sīḡmā)

  Hijazi Arabic: سِقْما‎ (sigma)

• Catalan: sigma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西格瑪 (zh), 西格马 (zh) (xīgémǎ)

• Czech: sigma n
• Dutch: sigma m
• French: sigma (fr) m
• German: Sigma (de) n
• Greek: σίγμα (el) n (sígma)
• Hebrew: סִיגְמָא‎ f (sígma)

• Hungarian: szigma
• Interlingua: sigma
• Japanese: シグマ (shiguma)
• Korean: 시그마 (ko) (sigeuma)
• Malay: sigma
• Persian: سیگما‎ (fa) (sigmâ)
• Portuguese: sigma (pt) m
• Russian: си́гма (ru) f (sígma)
• Slovak: sigma n
• Spanish: sigma (es) f
• Swedish: sigma (sv)

Anagrams

• Magis., agism

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Catalan

Noun

sigma f (plural sigmes)

1. Sigma; the Greek letter Σ (lowercase σ or ς).

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Czech

Noun

sigma n

1. sigma

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Finnish

Etymology

< Ancient Greek σίγμα (sígma)

Greek letter
Σσ
	Previous:	rhoo
	Next:	tau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiɡmɑ/
• Hyphenation: sig‧ma

Noun

sigma

1. sigma (Greek letter)

Declension

Inflection of sigma (Kotus type 9/kala, no gradation)
nominative		sigma	sigmat
genitive		sigman	sigmojen
partitive		sigmaa	sigmoja
illative		sigmaan	sigmoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		sigma	sigmat
accusative	nom.	sigma	sigmat
	gen.	sigman
genitive		sigman	sigmojen sigmainrare
partitive		sigmaa	sigmoja
inessive		sigmassa	sigmoissa
elative		sigmasta	sigmoista
illative		sigmaan	sigmoihin
adessive		sigmalla	sigmoilla
ablative		sigmalta	sigmoilta
allative		sigmalle	sigmoille
essive		sigmana	sigmoina
translative		sigmaksi	sigmoiksi
instructive		—	sigmoin
abessive		sigmatta	sigmoitta
comitative		—	sigmoineen

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French

Noun

sigma m (plural sigma)

1. sigma (Greek letter)

Further reading

• “sigma” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σῖγμα (sîgma), σίγμα (sígma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiɡ.ma/, [ˈs̪iɡmä]
• Stress: sìgma
• Hyphenation: sig‧ma

Noun

sigma m, f (invariable)

1. sigma, specifically:
   1. The name of the Greek-script letter Σ/σ, ς
   2. (mathematics) The symbol Σ, used to indicate summation of a set or series.
   3. (statistics) The symbol σ, used to indicate one standard deviation from the mean, particularly in a normal distribution.

Derived terms

• sigmatismo/sigmacismo

Noun

sigma m (invariable)

1. (anatomy) sigmoid colon

Anagrams

• sgami

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Portuguese

Noun

sigma m (plural sigmas)

1. sigma (name of the Greek letter Σ, σ)

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Spanish

Noun

sigma f (plural sigmas)

1. sigma; the Greek letter Σ, σ