English
various
Various comes from Middle French varieux, from Latin varius ‘manifold, diverse’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvarius1‘manifold’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600varieux1
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905various1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English various
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., The Affair at the Novelty Theatre: “For this scene, a large number of supers are…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvariusWiktionary, English various‘manifold’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600varieuxWiktionary, English various
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905variousWiktionary, English various. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., The Affair at the Novelty Theatre: “For this scene, a large number of supers are…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘to be/become empty’
want, waste, vast, vacation, void, vacant, vanity, vain, evacuate, vanish, 31 more
through Latin varius ‘manifold, diverse, various, parti-colored,…’
Today it means
det More than one (of an indeterminate set of things).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “various”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin varius / various