variant
French, noun/va.ʁjɑ̃/
variant is spelled V-A-R-I-A-N-T (7 letters) and appears 2.7 times per million words in written French, the 17,096th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Variant is a French masculine noun meaning “mutation, variant (of a virus)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a present participle of varier. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Virus résultant d’une mutation”.
What does variant mean in English?
adjective
- 1
varied, which varies; variable
noun
- 1
masculinemutation, variant (of a virus)
verb
- 1
present participle of varier
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui change souvent.
noun: 1. Virus résultant d’une mutation.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of variant
- variante feminine
- variants masculine plural
- variantes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce variant?
- /va.ʁjɑ̃/
- \va.ʁjɑ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is variant in French?
variant appears 2.7 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).