variety

See also: variëty

English

Alternative forms

• variëty (rare)

Etymology

From Middle French varieté, from Latin varietās (“difference, diversity”), from varius (“different, various”); see various. Displaced native Old English mislīcnes.

Pronunciation

• enPR: və-rīʹĭ-tē, IPA^(key): /vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪɪti
• Hyphenation: va‧ri‧e‧ty

Noun

variety (countable and uncountable, plural varieties)

1. The quality of being varied; diversity.
   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 34:

     The teeth of sharks, for all their variety, share one characteristic, and that is the way in which they are attached.

   Variety is the spice of life.

   Antonym: sameness

2. A specific variation of something.
3. A number of different things.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.

   • 2013 January 1, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 64:

     In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.

   Synonyms: array, assortment

4. A state of constant change.
5. (taxonomy) A rank in a taxonomic classification, below species (infraspecific), either below subspecies (subspecific) or ranked comparably therewith.
6. (cybernetics) The total number of distinct states of a system.
7. (cybernetics) Logarithm of the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system.
8. (linguistics) A term used for a specific form of a language, neutral to whether that form is a dialect, accent, register, etc. and to its prestige level.
   • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 114:

     The mere existence of a dictionary of a certain variety of English does not automatically confer acceptance of that variety.

9. (algebra, universal algebra) An equational class; the class of all algebraic structures of a given signature, satisfying a given set of identities.
10. (algebraic geometry) An algebraic variety.
11. The kind of theatrical entertainment given in variety shows.
12. The production of, or performance in, variety shows.

Synonyms

• (quality of being varied): See also Thesaurus:nonuniformity
• (algebraic geometry): algebraic variety
• (universal algebra): equational class, equational variety, variety of algebras

Hyponyms

• (specific variation of something): cultivar

Derived terms

Derived terms

• Abelian variety
• affine variety
• algebraic variety
• antivariety
• cinevariety
• grape variety
• projective variety
• quasiprojective variety

• quasivariety
• supersingular variety
• variety show
• variety store
• standard variety
• nonstandard variety
• variety of algebras

Related terms

Related terms

• variant
• variation
• variegate
• varietal

• varietist
• various
• vary

Translations

quality of being varied, diversity

• Bulgarian: разнообра́зие (bg) n (raznoobrázie)
• Danish: forskellighed c, mangfoldighed c
• Esperanto: diverseco, varieco
• Finnish: monimuotoisuus (fi), moninaisuus (fi)
• Galician: diversidade (gl) f

• Greek:

  Ancient: ποικιλία f (poikilía)

• Latvian: dažādība f
• Russian: разнообра́зие (ru) n (raznoobrázije)

specific variation of something

• Arabic: اِخْتِلَاف‎ m (iḵtilāf)
• Bulgarian: вид (bg) m (vid), сорт (bg) m (sort)
• Catalan: varietat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 品種 (zh), 品种 (zh) (pǐnzhǒng), 變種 (zh), 变种 (zh) (biànzhǒng)

• Danish: forskellighed c
• Dutch: verscheidenheid (nl) f
• Finnish: muunnos (fi), laji (fi), tyyppi (fi)
• French: variété (fr) f
• Galician: variedade (gl) f
• Georgian: სახესხვაობა (saxesxvaoba), სხვადასხვაობა (sxvadasxvaoba), სხვადასხვაგვარობა (sxvadasxvagvaroba), ნაირნაირობა (nairnairoba), მრავალფეროვნება (mravalperovneba), სახეობა (saxeoba)
• German: Sorte (de) f
• Irish: sórt m
• Italian: varietà (it) f

• Khmer: ប្រភេទ (km) (prɑpʰeit)
• Latin: varietās f
• Mazanderani: جور‎
• Mongolian: зүйл (mn) (züil)
• Persian: اختلاف‎ (fa) (extelâf)
• Plautdietsch: Sort f
• Polish: rodzaj (pl) m, odmiana (pl)
• Portuguese: variedade (pt) f
• Romanian: varietate (ro) f, sort (ro) n, fel (ro) n, sortiment (ro) n
• Russian: сорт (ru) m (sort), вид (ru) m (vid), разнови́дность (ru) n (raznovídnostʹ)
• Scots: varietie
• Scottish Gaelic: caochladh m
• Spanish: variedad (es) f
• Tagalog: balaki
• Ukrainian: різновид (uk) (riznovyd)

state of constant change

• Bulgarian: променливост (bg) f (promenlivost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多樣性 (zh), 多样性 (zh) (duōyàngxìng)

• Finnish: muutos (fi), muutostila
• French: variété (fr) f
• Galician: variedade (gl) f
• Georgian: მრავალგვარობა (mravalgvaroba), მრავალფეროვნება (mravalperovneba)
• German: Vielfältigkeit (de) f
• Japanese: 多様性 (ja) (たようせい, tayōsei)

• Portuguese: variação (pt) f
• Romanian: varietate (ro) f
• Russian: разнообра́зие (ru) n (raznoobrázije), изме́нчивость (ru) f (izménčivostʹ)
• Spanish: variedad (es) f
• Ukrainian: різноманітність (riznomanitnistʹ)

rank in a taxonomic classification

• Bulgarian: вид (bg) m (vid)
• Catalan: varietat (ca) f
• Czech: odrůda (cs) f, varieta f
• Danish: varietet c
• Finnish: muunnos (fi)
• French: variété (fr) f
• Galician: variedade (gl) f
• Georgian: სახეობა (saxeoba)
• German: Varietät (de) f
• Italian: varietà (it) f

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: varietet m

  Nynorsk: varietet m

• Polish: odmiana (pl) f
• Portuguese: variedade (pt) f
• Romanian: varietate (ro) f
• Russian: вид (ru) m (vid), разнови́дность (ru) f (raznovídnostʹ)
• Spanish: variedad (es) f

cybernetics: total number of distinct states of a system

• Finnish: tilamäärä

cybernetics: logarithm of the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system

• Finnish: tilamäärän logaritmi

linguistics: term used for a specific form of a language

• Belarusian: моўная разнавіднасць f (móŭnaja raznavidnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: разновидност (bg) f (raznovidnost)
• Catalan: varietat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: variëteit (nl) f
• Finnish: kielimuoto (fi), muoto (fi)
• French: variété (fr) f
• Galician: variedade (gl) f
• Georgian: ენობრივი განსხვავება (enobrivi gansxvaveba)
• German: Varietät (de) f, Sprachvarietät (de) f, Sprachform (de) f
• Indonesian: isolek, varietas (id)
• Italian: varietà (it) f

• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: valodas paveids m
• Polish: odmiana językowa (pl) f, odmiana języka f, forma języka f, forma mowy f
• Portuguese: variedade (pt) f
• Russian: идиом (ru) (idiom), разновидность языка (ru) f (raznovidnostʹ jazyka), форма языка f (forma jazyka), языковая разновидность f (jazykovaja raznovidnostʹ), форма существования языка f (forma suščestvovanija jazyka)
• Serbo-Croatian: jezični varijetet m, jezički varijetet m, idiom (sh) m
• Slovak: jazyková varieta f, varieta jazyka f, forma jazyka f
• Spanish: variedad (es) f
• Ukrainian: різновид мови m (riznovyd movy), форма мови f (forma movy), форма існування мови f (forma isnuvannja movy)

algebra: class of algebraic structures

• Finnish: varisto

algebraic variety — see algebraic variety

See also

• species
• (cybernetics: logarithm): information entropy

Further reading

• “variety” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “variety” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.