Variant

How to spell variant

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce variant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does variant mean?

1. nounA form or version of something that differs in some way from others or from a standard.
2. adjectiveDiffering in some way from others of the same type, or from a fixed standard.

Variant in a sentence

• noun

  The cheaper variant of the laptop ships without the extra memory.

• adjective

  The dictionary records several variant spellings for the older words.

• noun

  The new variant of the virus spread more quickly through the region.

• adjective

  The survey allowed for variant responses across the different age groups.

Where does variant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin variare, meaning 'to change' or 'to make different', which itself was built on varius, an adjective meaning 'varied', 'speckled', or 'many-coloured'. The present participle form variantem gave a sense of 'differing' or 'changing', and that adjective passed into Old French before being borrowed into English in the late 1300s. It long stayed close to its root, describing things that differ from a standard or from one another. The very same varius lies behind the everyday words 'various' and 'variety', which helps explain why the central vowels and the single 'r' feel familiar. The spelling trap is the ending: the unstressed 'ant' can be mistakenly written as 'ent', since both endings are pronounced as a faint schwa.

How the word is built

• vari- (from Latin variare: to change, vary)
• -ant (adjective/noun suffix indicating a state or agent)