losowym

Losowym is the instrumental singular masculine/neuter form of the Polish adjective losowy, meaning random or by chance. The base noun los means fate or luck; the adjective conveys that something is determined by chance rather than necessity. In Polish, losowy agrees with the gender, number and case of the noun it modifies.

In usage, losowy describes processes, selections or data driven by chance. In statistics and probability, it appears in terms like ciąg losowy (random sequence), próba losowa (random sample), and zdarzenie losowe (random event). In computing and everyday language, it is used for losowe liczby (random numbers) or losowe wybory (random selections). The instrumental form losowym is used with masculine or neuter nouns in phrases such as losowym wyborem (by random choice) or losowym sposobem (by a random method). Feminine forms would be losową in the instrumental.

Etymology traces losowy to the root los meaning fate or luck, plus the suffix -owy, forming an adjective that denotes relation to chance. The term is closely related to concepts like randomness and probabilistic behavior and is often contrasted with antonyms such as celowy (intentional) or systematyczny (systematic).

See also: losowanie, losowość, los.