Etymologically
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variance

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 13:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈvɛə.ɹi.əns/, /ˈvɛː.ɹi.əns/[1]
  • US: /ˈvæɹ.i.əns/, /ˈvɛɹ.i.əns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English variaunce,[2][3] borrowed from Old French variance[4][2][5] and directly borrowed from Latin variantia (“difference, diversity”),[2][6] from variāns, the present participle of variō (“to change”),[3][6][4] the source of vary.[2][7] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the early 13th century, with the senses difference, variation, inconstancy and discrepancy.[8] The Latin noun also gave Italian varianza.[4] Weekley notes that variance is the oldest word of its group in English.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fact of changing; a tendency to vary or become different: about 1340, in Richard Rolle's Pricke of Conscience.[4][5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1300–1350, and Etymonline to the late 14th century.[10][2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1374, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, variance also meant difference or discrepancy,[4][2] and in Gower (1390) the inconstancy of a person, a sense lost in the 16th century.[4][5] From difference it passed to disagreement and dissension by the early 15th century,[2] and at variance, in disagreement, is recorded from the 1510s.[2][5] Johnson (1755) gave only "discord; disagreement; dissention", quoting the Bible's "to set a man at variance against his father".[11] In law it meant a discrepancy between two statements or documents from 1429.[4] Modern technical senses followed: in statistics, the square of the standard deviation, in a paper by R. A. Fisher in 1918;[4] in American law, an official exemption from a building or zoning rule, from 1925;[4][2] and in economics, the difference between actual and expected costs or output, from 1964.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1340 – the fact of changing, variation.[4]
  • c. 1374 – difference, discrepancy (Chaucer).[4]
  • 1390 – inconstancy of a person (obsolete by 1513).[4]
  • 1429 – in law, a discrepancy between two statements or documents.[4]
  • 1510s – at variance, in disagreement.[2]
  • 1918 – in statistics, the square of the standard deviation.[4]
  • 1925 – in US law, an exemption from a building regulation.[4][2]
  • 1964 – in economics, a difference between actual and expected figures.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The fact, state or degree of varying; variation or difference: a variance of two degrees between the readings.[12][3][13]
  2. at variance: in disagreement or conflict; inconsistent: Her account was at variance with the official records.[12][5]
  3. Disagreement or dissension.[12][5]
  4. (statistics) A measure of spread equal to the mean of the squared deviations from the mean; the square of the standard deviation.[12][13][4]
  5. (US, law) Official permission to depart from a zoning or building regulation.[13][4][2]
  6. (law) A discrepancy between two statements or documents in a legal proceeding.[13][4]
  7. A difference between what is expected and what actually happens, especially between budgeted and actual costs.[13][4]
  8. (chemistry) The number of thermodynamic variables, such as temperature and pressure, needed to define a system.[13]
  9. (obsolete, 1390–1513) Inconstancy, changeableness of a person.[4][5]

Word family

  • invariance
  • covariance
  • analysis of variance

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin