# 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

* (UK) enPR: vâr'ē-ənt, IPA: /ˈvɛəɹi.ənt/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈvæɹi.ənt/, /ˈvɛɹi.ənt/

### Adjective

variant (comparative more variant, superlative most variant)
* Showing variety, diverse.
* Showing deviation or disagreement.
* (obsolete) Variable.
* (programming) Covariant and/or contravariant.

#### Derived terms

* time-variant

#### Translations
### Noun

variant (plural variants)
* Something that is slightly different from a type or norm.
    All breeds of dog are variants of the species “Canis lupus familiaris”.
* (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.
* (programming) A variable that can hold any of various unrelated data types.
* (linguistics, lexicography) One of a set of words or other linguistic forms that conveys the same meaning or serves the same function.
    The word "kerosine" is a variant of “kerosene”.
** 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes‎, 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, Avizia Yim Long, Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition‎, 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.

#### Derived terms

* Alpha variant
* Beta variant
* biovariant
* bivariant
* copy-number variant
* delta variant
* Delta variant
* epivariant
* Epsilon variant
* equivariant
* Eta variant
* Gamma variant
* genovariant
* glycovariant
* heterovariant
* immunovariant
* invariant
* Iota variant
* isovariant
* Kappa variant
* Kraken variant
* Lambda variant
* metavariant
* microvariant
* monovariant
* multivariant
* Mu variant
* neurovariant
* nonvariant
* Omega variant
* Omicron variant
* pathovariant
* pharmacovariant
* polyvariant
* scariant
* serovariant
* splice variant
* subvariant
* Theta variant
* univariant
* unvariant
* variant reading
* Zeta variant
* z-variant

#### Related terms

* variance
* variation
* vary

#### See also

* alternate
* alternative

### Anagrams

* nativar

## Catalan
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin variantem. First attested in 1839.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [bə.ɾiˈan]
* IPA: (Balearic) [və.ɾiˈant]
* IPA: (Valencia) [va.ɾiˈant]

#### Adjective

variant m or f (masculine and feminine plural variants)
* varying

#### Noun

variant m (plural variants)
* variant

##### Related terms

* variar

#### References

* ↑ “variant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

#### 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.

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

variant
* gerund of variar

## Crimean Tatar
### Etymology

Borrowed from Russian вариант (variant).

### Pronunciation

* Hyphenation: va‧ri‧ant

### Noun

variant
* variant

#### Declension
### References

* “variant”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

## Danish
### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Noun

variant c (singular definite varianten, plural indefinite varianter)
* variant

#### Declension
### Further reading

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

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from French variant or variante, from Latin variāns.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌvaː.riˈɑnt/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: va‧ri‧ant
* Rhymes: -ɑnt

### Noun

variant m (plural varianten, diminutive variantje n)
* 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

### Further reading

* “variant” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

## Estonian
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Variante.

### Noun

variant (genitive variandi, partitive varianti)
* variant, variety, version (a specific variation of something)
    Synonyms: teisend, versioon
* option (one of a set of choices that can be made)
    Synonyms: alternatiiv, võimalus

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “variant”, in [PSV] Eesti keele põhisõnavara sõnastik [Dictionary of Estonian Basic Vocabulary] (in Estonian) (online version, not updated), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2014
* “variant”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
* “variant”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
* variant in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /va.ʁjɑ̃/
* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Participle

variant
* present participle of varier

### Adjective

variant (feminine variante, masculine plural variants, feminine plural variantes)
* varied, which varies; variable

#### Related terms

* variabilité
* variable
* variation

### Noun

variant m (plural variants)
* mutation, variant (of a virus)

### Further reading

* “variant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Verb

variant
* third-person plural present active indicative of variō

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Latin varians.

### Noun

variant m (definite singular varianten, indefinite plural varianter, definite plural variantene)
* a variant

### References

* “variant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Latin varians.

### Noun

variant m (definite singular varianten, indefinite plural variantar, definite plural variantane)
* a variant

### References

* “variant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old French
### Adjective

variant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular variant or variante)
* varying; which varies

#### Descendants

* → English: variant
* French: variant

## Swedish
### Etymology

From French variante, attested from 1779.

### Noun

variant c
* variant

#### Related terms

* variera

### References

* ↑ variant in Svensk ordbok.