Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “variant” come from?

Variant derives from Latin varians, the present participle of Latin vario, from Latin varius meaning "changing or diverse," formed with the Proto-Italic and Proto-Indo-European masculine nominative singular suffix -ós.

variant (English): Showing variety, diverse; Showing deviation or...

Definitions

  1. Showing variety, diverse; Showing deviation or...

Ancestry of “variant”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchvariantvarying; which varies
2Latinvariāns—
3Latinvariō—
4Latinvariusdiverse, different, various, variegated
5Latinvārus—
6Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂wer-to lift up; to moisten; to flow; to raise, hang
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwēr-true
8Proto-Indo-Europeanwer-to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel

Words derived from “variant”

  • invariant
  • covariant
  • univariant
  • invariantism
  • invariantly
  • invariantist
  • multivariant
  • equivariant
  • bivariant
  • nonvariant
  • covariantly
  • noninvariant
  • subvariant
  • noncovariant
  • microvariant
  • equivariantly
  • polyvariant
  • genovariant
  • glycovariant
  • bicovariant
  • superinvariant
  • biinvariant
  • covariantisation
  • covariantization
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wer- →