English
variable
Variable comes from Latin variare ‘to change’, and goes back to varius ‘different, various’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvarius‘different, various’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvariare‘to change’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400variable
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvarius‘different, various’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvariare‘to change’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400variable
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet: “Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
Formed from vary + -able
Latin varius ‘different, various’
Latin variō ‘to change, alter, make different’
Old French varier
Middle English varien
English vary
The story
Equates to English vary + -able.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘to be/become empty’
want, waste, vast, vacation, void, vacant, vanity, vain, evacuate, vanish, waning, vacate, wane, vacuous, evanescent, 26 more
through Latin varius ‘different, various’
Today it means
adj Able to vary or be varied.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin varius / variable