multivariate

Etymology

It is formed from English multi- + variate, from variate as a noun, a variable in statistics.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier multivariant and bivariate.^[2] The noun variate is recorded from 1899,^[6][3] and is from Latin variātus, the past participle of variō (“to change, vary”).^[6][7][8] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate analyses the word instead as multi- with variable and the suffix -ate.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Involving two or more variates or random variables: 1920, in the journal Biometrika.^[2][3] The 1989 edition of the OED, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gave 1928,^[10][6][9] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1925–30.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has stayed a technical term of statistics, used of distributions, data and analyses that involve several variables at once.^[11][3][2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes the variables as independent,^[3] while Collins notes that in a multivariate distribution they are distinct but not usually independent.^[11]

Timeline

• 1920 – involving two or more variates or random variables.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (statistics) Having or involving several variables: a multivariate analysis of the survey results.^[11][3][2]

Related words

• variate
• vary
• variable
• variation
• bivariate
• multivariant

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins