Various

How to spell various

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce various

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does various mean?

1. adjectiveOf several different kinds; more than one and differing from each other.

Various in a sentence

• The report drew on various sources, from interviews to financial records.

• She has lived in various cities over the past decade.

Where does various come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin adjective varius, which meant 'diverse, changeable, spotted or mottled', the same idea behind a surface marked with different colours. From that root Latin also formed varietas, the ancestor of our 'variety', and the verb variare, 'to change or differ', which gives us 'vary'. English shaped 'various' in the early sixteenth century by attaching the familiar Latin-derived ending -ous, meaning 'full of' or 'characterised by', to the vari- stem, producing a word meaning 'of several different kinds'. The spelling preserves that vari- root intact, so remembering its kinship with 'vary' and 'variety' helps fix the single r and the i that follows it. Over time the sense settled from 'differing' into the everyday meaning 'several, of different sorts', as in a list of various items.

How the word is built

• vari- (from Latin varius: diverse, changeable)
• -ous (adjective suffix meaning 'full of, having')