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.
4. (programming) Covariant and/or contravariant.

Translations

showing variety, diverse

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

• Finnish: vaihteleva (fi)
• Georgian: სხვადასხვა (sxvadasxva), სხვადასხვანაირი (sxvadasxvanairi)
• Hebrew: מגוון‎ m (meguván)

showing deviation or disagreement

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

• Galician: variante (gl) f
• Georgian: განსხვავებული (gansxvavebuli), არამსგავსი (aramsgavsi)
• Hebrew: מתבדל‎ m (mitbadél)
• 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)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• 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: obměna 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)
• Hebrew: חלופה‎ f (khalufá), הגוון‎ m (hegvén)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: változat (hu), variáns (hu)

• Italian: variante (it) f
• Kazakh: нұсқа (nusqa)
• Korean: 변체 (ko) (byeonche) (變體 (ko))
• Latvian: variants m
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: rerenga, tangongitanga
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: variant m

• 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
• Hebrew: זן‎ (he) m (zan)

computing: variable that can hold several data types

• Finnish: variant-muuttuja

• Hebrew: וריאנט‎ m (variánt)
• Polish: wariant (pl) m

Translation requests

• Esperanto: 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

Etymology

From Latin variāns, attested from 1839.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /və.ɾiˈant/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /bə.ɾiˈan/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /va.ɾiˈant/

Adjective

variant (masculine and feminine plural variants)

1. varying

Noun

variant m (plural variants)

1. variant

Related terms

• variar

Further reading

• “variant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “variant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “variant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French variant or variante, from Latin variāns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌvaː.riˈɑnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: va‧ri‧ant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Noun

variant m (plural varianten, diminutive variantje n)

1. A variant.

Synonyms

• variante

Derived terms

• deelvariant
• foneemvariant
• hoofdvariant
• klassevariant
• openingsvariant
• ruilvariant
• spellingvariant
• tekenvariant
• variantengroep
• variantenmateriaal
• variantennet
• variantenpaar
• variantenreeks
• woordvariant

 

Related terms

• variabiliteit
• variabel
• variatie
• variëren
• variëteit

Descendants

• → Indonesian: varian

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.ʁjɑ̃/

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

Noun

variant m (plural variants)

1. mutation, variant (of a virus)

Further reading

• “variant” in 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
• French: variant

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Swedish

Etymology

From French variante, attested from 1779.

Noun

variant c

1. variant

Declension

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

Related terms

• variera