Etymologically
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variable

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈveəriəb(ə)l/ (UK); /ˈveriəb(ə)l/, /ˈværiəb(ə)l/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French variable (“various, changeable, fickle”) and directly Late Latin variabilis (“changeable”),[2][3][4] from variāre (“to change”) (see vary) and -abilis, -able.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, apt to change, fickle: 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lack of uniformity, diversity, is from the late 14th century,[3] and subject to change, capable of being altered, by about 1400.[3] Of the weather and seasons it is from the late 15th century,[3] and of stars, variable star, from 1788.[2][3] In mathematics, quantitatively indeterminate is from 1710,[3] and the noun, a quantity that can vary, from 1816.[2][3][4] A symbol for a variable quantity in logic and mathematics is first recorded in 1910.[2]

Timeline

  • 1387 – fickle.[2]
  • c. 1400 – subject to change.[3]
  • late 15th century – of weather.[3]
  • 1788 – variable star.[2]
  • 1816 – the noun.[2]
  • 1910 – a symbol in logic.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Likely to change; changeable: variable weather.
  2. Inconstant; fickle.
  3. Tending to differ from the normal type.
  4. (mathematics) Having no fixed value.

Noun

  1. Something that varies or tends to vary.
  2. (mathematics) A quantity that can take any of a set of values, or a symbol for it.
  3. A variable star.

Word family

  • variableness
  • variably
  • variability
  • hypervariable
  • nonvariable
  • unvariable

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press