variant English · revision 39622

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1374, Chaucer, translation of Boethius|origins=la varius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈvɛəɹi.ənt/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈvæɹi.ənt/, /ˈvɛɹi.ənt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|variaunt]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) [[bor|fro|variant]],^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) and also comes directly from [[la|variāns|t=changing, varying]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) the present participle of [[m|la|variō|t=to change, vary]], from [[m|la|varius|t=various, diverse]].^(Collins 2023)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) It is related to [[vary]] and [[various]].^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) The noun was formed from the adjective in the mid-19th century.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(ODE 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of things, tending to vary or change, not uniform: c. 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Barnhart dates the form ''variaunt'' to about 1380.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English the adjective was used of people who were fickle and changeable (c. 1386, in Chaucer's ''Canon's Yeoman's Tale''), and briefly of people who disagreed (1412–20).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) It also meant varied or diverse (c. 1380) and differing from something else (c. 1400),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) the sense that led to the modern ones; in biology it was used from 1881 of what departs from the type.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The noun, a form that differs from others of the same thing, is recorded from 1848 or 1849,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026) with the textual sense of a different reading in two copies of a work from 1855,^(OED 2026) or 1861 according to Etymonline,^(Etymonline) and the sense of a different version of a story or song from 1872.^(OED 2026) Weekley used ''variant'' for a parallel form of a word, such as ''burden'' beside ''burthen''.^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – of things, changing, not uniform.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1380 – varied, diverse.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1386 – of people, fickle.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1400 – differing from something.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1848 – noun, a different form of something.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1855 – noun, a different reading in a text.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1872 – noun, a different version of a story or song.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1881 – (biology) varying from the type.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A form or version of something that differs in some way from other forms of the same thing: ''a regional variant of the recipe''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A different spelling or [[pronunciation]] of the same word.^(Weekley 1921)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A different [[reading]] of a passage in two or more copies of a text.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ # (statistics) A [[variate]].^(Collins 2023)

+ # (biology) An [[organism]], [[strain]] or [[gene]] that differs from the type.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Differing from a standard or from others of its kind: ''variant spellings''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (obsolete) Changeable, [[fickle]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[invariant]]

+ * [[nonvariant]]

+ * [[unvariant]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[variance]]

+ * [[variation]]

+ * [[vary]]

+ * [[various]]

+ * [[variable]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}