Vary

How to spell vary

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce vary

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does vary mean?

1. verbTo differ, change, or take on a range of different forms over time or between cases.

Vary in a sentence

• Prices can vary from one branch to another.

• The train times vary on weekends and public holidays.

Where does vary come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin adjective varius, which literally meant 'diverse', 'spotted', or 'mottled', as in a surface marked with patches of different colours. From varius the Romans formed the verb variare, meaning 'to change' or 'to make different', and that verb passed into Old French as varier before reaching English in the late 1300s. The original sense of dappled, uneven colouring is why the word still carries the idea of things being inconsistent or differing from one another. The same Latin root survives in several relatives an adult will recognise, including 'various', 'variety', and 'variable'. Keeping the spelling tidy is mostly about the single r and the -ary ending, which sets it apart from the unrelated word 'very'.

How the word is built

• var- (from Latin varius: diverse, spotted)
• -y (verb suffix from French -ier)

Words that sound like vary

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• very: To a high degree; extremely.