Bias

Bias is a disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, commonly in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may determining biases for or against an individual, a group, or a belief. In science & engineering, a bias is a systematic error. Statistical bias results from an unfair sampling of a population, or from an estimation process that does not afford accurate results on average.

Etymology

The word appears to derive from Old Provençal into Old French biais, "sideways, askance, against the grain". Whence comes French biais, "a slant, a slope, an oblique".

It seems to create entered English via the game of bowls, where it sent to balls shown with a greater weight on one side. Which expanded to the figurative use, "a one-sided tendency of the mind", and, at number one especially in law, "undue propensity or prejudice".