Join free

variant

English · Français · Deutsch · 中文 · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

variant

  • /ˈvɛəɹi.ənt/ UK
  • /ˈvæɹi.ənt/ US
  • /ˈvɛɹi.ənt/ US

Where it comes from

From Old French variant, from Latin variāns, the present active participle of variō (“to change”). First attested in c. 1380.

adjective more variant · most variant · variaunt

  1. Showing variety, diverse.
  2. Showing deviation or disagreement.
  3. obsolete Variable.
  4. Covariant and/or contravariant.

noun variants · variaunt

  1. Something that is slightly different from a type or norm. All breeds of dog are variants of the species “Canis lupus familiaris”.
  2. A different sequence of a gene (locus). 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.
  3. A variable that can hold any of various unrelated data types.
  4. 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”.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: variance, variation, variate, version, form, different, discrepancy, random variable, strain, variety, variable, alternate, modification, alternative, phrase, approach

Translations

Every language

adj showing variety, diverse

Portuguêsvariante
עבריתמגוון meguván

adj showing deviation or disagreement

Españolvariante
Portuguêsvariante
עבריתמתבדל mitbadél

noun something slightly different

Españolvariante
한국어변체 byeonche, 변종 byeonjong
日本語変体 hentai, 変種 henshu
中文變體 /变体 biàntǐ, 異體 /异体 yìtǐ
Portuguêsvariante
Françaisvariante
DeutschVariante
Italianovariante
Ελληνικάπαραλλαγή parallagí
Românăvariantă
Русскийвариа́нт variánt
Tiếng Việtphương án, biến thể
العربيةاِخْتِلَاف iḵtilāf
עבריתחלופה khalufá, הגוון hegvén

noun genetics: different sequence of a gene

עבריתזן zan

noun computing: variable that can hold several data types

עבריתוריאנט variánt

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"variant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/variant. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

variant. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/variant

Chicago

"variant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/variant.

BibTeX
@misc{variant_2026,
  title = {variant},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/variant},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}