Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

long tail

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.33 in modern English

Syllables: long -tail
IPA

9

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Sales made for less usual goods within a very large choice, which can return a profit through reduced marketing and distribution costs.

noun

The tail of a distribution that represents the rare occurrence of extreme values.

Example Sentences

"What’s really amazing about the Long Tail is the sheer size of it. Combine enough nonhits on the Long Tail and you’ve got a market bigger than the hits."
"“I would like to tell you that the Internet has made such a level playing field that the Long Tail is absolutely the place to be, that there's so much differentiation, so much diversity, so many new voices. I'd love to tell you that that's in fact how it really works. Unfortunately, it's not,” Schmidt said."

Etymology

In the marketing sense popularized by journalist Chris Anderson in 2004, alluding to the long tail of a power law distribution.

Inflected Forms

long tails (plural)

Phrases

big head power law tail risk

Frequently Paired Words

big head power law tail risk

Questions

What does long tail mean?: Sales made for less usual goods within a very large choice, which can return a profit through reduced marketing and distribution costs.
Where does long tail come from?: In the marketing sense popularized by journalist Chris Anderson in 2004, alluding to the long tail of a power law distribution.

How to pronounce long tail

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