variety English · revision 3582

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1533|origins=la varius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /vəˈraɪ.ə.ti/, US /vəˈraɪ.ə.t̬i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|variété]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) and directly [[der|la|varietās|t=difference, diversity; a kind, sort]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|varius|t=various, diverse]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) Latin varius is also the source of [[variable]], [[variegated]], [[various]] and [[vary]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Change of fortune, fickleness: before 1533, now obsolete.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline dates the word to the 1540s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The quality of being varied, diversity, is from 1548,^(OED 1989) the 1540s in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) and a collection of different things, or a difference between things of the same kind, from the 1550s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) As an artistic quality it is from the 1590s.^(Etymonline) A thing differing from others of its kind is from the 1610s.^(Etymonline) William Cowper's poem ''The Task'' gave the proverb ''variety is the spice of life''.^(Cresswell 2021) Mixed theatrical entertainment is American English, recorded by 1868 (''variety troupe''),^(Etymonline) and the ''variety show'' from 1882;^(Barnhart 1988) it was first performed in saloons before an all-male audience, and when cleaned up it became [[vaudeville]].^(Cresswell 2021) In Scots and some English dialects a ''variety'' was a rarity.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1533 – change of fortune (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1548 – diversity.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1550s – an assortment.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1610s – a variant; a type.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1868 – variety entertainment.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1882 – ''variety show''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The quality of being varied; [[diversity]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A number of different things of a particular class; an [[assortment]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A kind or sort: ''a new variety of rose''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(biology)'' A group within a species differing in minor characteristics; a cultivated plant type.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Entertainment made up of a series of different acts.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[subvariety]]

+ * [[varietal]]

+ * [[variety meat]]

+ * [[variety show]]

+ * [[variety store]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[variant]]

+ * [[variation]]

+ * [[varied]]

+ * [[variegate]]

+ * [[variegated]]

+ * [[variegation]]

+ * [[varier]]

+ * [[various]]

+ * [[vary]]

+ * [[variable]]

+ * [[vaudeville]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}