variety

Signification

A deviation or difference.
A specific variation of something.
A specific variation of something.
A specific variation of something.
A specific variation of something.
A collection or number of different things.
A collection or number of different things.
A collection or number of different things.
A collection or number of different things.
Ellipsis of variety performance. or variety show (“a type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.”).
The quality of being varied; diversity.
The kind of entertainment given in variety performances or shows; also, the production of, or performance in, variety performances or shows.

Fréquence

Coupé comme

va‧ri‧e‧ty

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/

Étymologie

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). 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 of distinct states of a system; logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system”) was coined by the English psychiatrist William Ross Ashby (1903–1972) in his work An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956). cognates * Galician variedade (“variety”) * Italian varietà (“difference; variety”) * Portuguese variedade (“variety”) * Spanish variedad (“breed; variety”)