variant

English

Alternative forms

• variaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

Recorded since c.1380, from Old French variant, from Latin variāns, the present active participle of variō (“to change”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: vâr'ē-ənt, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛəɹi.ənt/, /ˈvæɹi.ənt/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛəɹi.ənt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

variant (comparative more variant, superlative most variant)

1. Showing variety, diverse.
2. Showing deviation or disagreement.
3. (obsolete) Variable.

Translations

showing variety, diverse

• Czech: různý (cs)
• Dutch: gevariëerd, verscheiden (nl)

• Finnish: vaihteleva (fi)
• Georgian: სხვადასხვა (sxvadasxva), სხვადასხვანაირი (sxvadasxvanairi)

showing deviation or disagreement

• Czech: rozdílný (cs)
• Dutch: afwijkend (nl)
• Finnish: poikkeava (fi)

• Galician: variante (gl) f
• Georgian: განსხვავებული (gansxvavebuli), არამსგავსი (aramsgavsi)
• Polish: odbiegający
• Spanish: variante (es) (law)

variable — see variable

Noun

variant (plural variants)

1. Something that is slightly different from a type or norm.

   All breeds of dog are variants of the species “Canis lupus familiaris”.

   The word "kerosine" is a variant of “kerosene”.

2. (genetics) A different sequence of a gene (locus).
3. (computing) A variable that can hold any of various unrelated data types.
4. (linguistics, lexicography) One of a set of words or other linguistic forms that conveys the same meaning or serves the same function.
   • 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes‎^[1], page 297:

     The "Terms" number is the total number of words and lexical phrases, including sub-headwords and other nested lexical items, but exclusive of variants.

   • 2014, Kimberly Geeslin and Avizia Yim Long, Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition‎^[2], page 27:

     Each member of this group of two or more forms is called a variant. [...] In this case ‘-in’ and ‘-ing’ are variants of the sociolinguistic variable -ing.

Related terms

• variance
• variation
• vary

Translations

something slightly different

• Arabic: اِخْتِلَاف‎ m (iḵtilāf)
• Armenian: տարբերակ (hy) (tarberak)
• Belarusian: варыя́нт m (varyjánt)
• Bulgarian: вариа́нт (bg) m (variánt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變體 (zh), 变体 (zh) (biàntǐ), 異體 (zh), 异体 (zh) (yìtǐ)

• Czech: varianta (cs) f
• Dutch: variant (nl)
• Esperanto: varianto
• Finnish: muunnelma (fi), muunnos (fi), variantti (fi)
• French: variante (fr) f
• Georgian: ვარიანტი (varianṭi)
• German: Variante (de) f

• Greek: παραλλαγή (el) f (parallagí)
• Hungarian: változat (hu), variáns (hu)
• Italian: variante (it) f
• Korean: 변체 (ko) (byeonche)
• Maori: rerenga, tangongitanga
• Polish: odmiana (pl) f, rodzaj (pl) m, wariant (pl) m
• Portuguese: variante (pt) f
• Romanian: variantă (ro) f
• Russian: вариа́нт (ru) m (variánt)
• Spanish: variante (es) f
• Swedish: variant (sv) c
• Thai: การเปลี่ยนแปลง (th) (gaan bplìan bplaeng)
• Turkish: çeşitlilik (tr), değişim (tr), tenevvü (tr), varyant (tr)
• Ukrainian: варіа́нт (uk) m (variánt)

genetics: different sequence of a gene

• Dutch: variant (nl)

• Finnish: geenimuunnos

computing: variable that can hold several data types

• Finnish: variant-muuttuja

• Polish: wariant (pl) m

Translation requests

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can

• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• alternate
• alternative

Anagrams

• nativar

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Catalan

Adjective

variant (masculine and feminine plural variants)

1. varying

Noun

variant m (plural variants)

1. variant

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

variant m (plural varianten, diminutive variantje n)

1. A variant

Synonyms

• variante

Derived terms

• (variants by type) deelvariant m, hoofdvariant m, klassevariant m, openingsvariant m, phoneemvariant m, ruilvariant m, teekenvariant m (obsolete spelling teekenvariant m), woordvariant m
• variantengroep
• variantenmateriaal n
• variantennet n
• variantenpaar n
• variantenreeks

Related terms

• variabiliteit
• variabel
• variatie
• variëren

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaʁjɑ̃/

Verb

variant

1. present participle of varier

Adjective

variant (feminine singular variante, masculine plural variants, feminine plural variantes)

1. varied, which varies; variable

Related terms

• variabilité
• variable
• variation

Further reading

• “variant” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Latin

Verb

variant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of variō

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin varians

Noun

variant m (definite singular varianten, indefinite plural varianter, definite plural variantene)

1. a variant

References

• “variant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin varians

Noun

variant m (definite singular varianten, indefinite plural variantar, definite plural variantane)

1. a variant

References

• “variant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old French

Adjective

variant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular variant or variante)

1. varying; which varies

Descendants

• English: variant (borrowed)
• French: variant

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Swedish

Noun

variant c

1. a variant

Declension

Declension of variant
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	variant	varianten	varianter	varianterna
Genitive	variants	variantens	varianters	varianternas