variety

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A number of different things of the same general kind.

   The shop sells a wide variety of teas from around the world.

2. 2
   noun

   The quality of including many different things; the state of not always being the same.

   Variety is the spice of life.

3. 3
   noun

   A particular type or form of something.

   This variety of apple is sweeter than the others.

Common collocations

• variety show Noun + noun

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various + -ety. Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon; to give out; to leave”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes. Sense 1.3.2 (“total number…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images