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

• Bulgarian: различен (bg) (različen)
• Czech: různý (cs)
• Dutch: gevariëerd, verscheiden (nl)

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

showing deviation or disagreement

• Bulgarian: различаващ се (različavašt se)
• 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).
   • 2022 January 12, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Emergency timetables as absences surge due to COVID”, in RAIL, number 948, page 6:

     Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as they struggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.

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(變體) (ko) (byeonche)
• Latin: variāns m
• 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)
• Uzbek: variant (uz)

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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Danish

Noun

variant c (singular definite varianten, plural indefinite varianter)

1. variant

Declension

Declension of variant

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	variant	varianten	varianter	varianterne
genitive	variants	variantens	varianters	varianternes

Further reading

• “variant” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “variant” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

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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/

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Participle

variant

1. present participle of varier

Adjective

variant (feminine 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 [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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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