variable

See also: Variable

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

variable

Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Old French variable, from Latin variare (“to change”), from varius (“different, various”). Equates to English vary +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛə.ɹi.ə.bl̩]
• (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): [ˈvæɹ.i.ə.bl̩]
• (US, Canada, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛɹ.i.ə.bl̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [ˈveː.ɹi.ə.bl̩]

Adjective

variable (comparative more variable, superlative most variable)

1. Able to vary or be varied.

   Synonyms: alterable, flexible, changeable, mutable; see also Thesaurus:mutable

   Antonyms: constant, invariable, immutable, unalterable, unchangeable; see also Thesaurus:immutable

   variable winds or seasons; a variable quantity; a variable resistor

2. Likely to vary.

   Synonyms: fickle, fluctuating, inconstant, shifting, unstable, unsteady; see also Thesaurus:unsteady, Thesaurus:changeable

   Antonyms: constant, invariable, immutable, unchangeable; see also Thesaurus:steady, Thesaurus:changeless

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

3. Marked by diversity or difference.

   Synonyms: varying; see also Thesaurus:heterogeneous

   Antonyms: unchanging; see also Thesaurus:homogeneous

4. (mathematics) Having no fixed quantitative value.

   Antonyms: constant, invariable

5. (biology) Tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type.

   Synonym: aberrant

Synonyms

• capricious
• changeful
• fickle
• fitful
• flexible
• fluctuating
• fluid
• iffy
• inconstant
• irregular
• mercurial
• mobile
• mutable
• protean
• shifting
• shifty
• slippery
• spasmodic
• temperamental
• ticklish
• uncertain
• unequable
• unsettled
• unstable
• unsteady
• vacillating
• volatile
• waffling
• wavering
• yo-yo

 

Derived terms

• continuous variable valve timing
• controlled variable time
• multivariable
• variability
• variabilize
• variable antshrike
• variable binding
• variable cam timing
• variable cost
• variable font
• variable geometry
• variableness
• variable squirrel
• variable sweep
• variable tandem repeat locus
• variable valve timing

 

Translations

able to vary

Asturian: variable Azerbaijani: dəyişkən (az) Bulgarian: променлив (bg) (promenliv), изменчив (bg) (izmenčiv) Catalan: variable (ca) Czech: proměnlivý (cs), variabilní, proměnný Dutch: veranderlijk (nl), variabel (nl), regelbaar (nl) Finnish: vaihteleva (fi), muuttuva (fi) French: variable (fr) Galician: variable (gl), variábel (gl) Georgian: ცვალებადი (cvalebadi) German: variabel (de) Greek: ευμετάβλητος (el) m (evmetávlitos), άστατος (el) m (ástatos), ευμετάβολος (el) m (evmetávolos) Hungarian: változó (hu) Italian: variabile (it), regolabile (it), flessiblie, modificabile (it) Japanese: 可変 (ja) (kahen), 変えられる (ja) (kaerareru) Malay: boleh ubah Maori: taurangi, tāupe Norwegian: variabel Persian: متغیر (fa) (moteğayyer) Polish: zmienny (pl) Portuguese: variável (pt) Romanian: variabil (ro) m or n Russian: переме́нный (ru) (pereménnyj), изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj), непостоя́нный (ru) (nepostojánnyj) Spanish: variable (es) Swedish: flexibel (sv), föränderlig (sv), reglerbar, rörlig (sv), ställbar (sv), variabel (sv) Telugu: మారగల (māragala), మారే (mārē) Turkish: değişken (tr) Ukrainian: змі́нний m (zmínnyj), мінли́вий (uk) m (minlývyj), змі́нна f (zmínna), мінли́ва f (minlýva)

likely to vary

Asturian: variable Bulgarian: променлив (bg) (promenliv) Catalan: variable (ca) Dutch: veranderlijk (nl), variabel (nl), schommelend (nl), wisselend (nl), onbestendig (nl) Esperanto: varia (eo) Finnish: vaihteleva (fi), muuttuva (fi) Galician: variable (gl), variábel (gl) Georgian: ცვალებადი (cvalebadi) German: variabel (de) Hungarian: változékony (hu) Italian: variabile (it) Japanese: 変わりうる (kawariuru), 変わりやすい (kawariyasui) Latin: variabilis Maori: taurangi, tāupe Norwegian: variabel Polish: zmienny (pl) Portuguese: variável (pt) Romanian: variabil (ro) m or n Russian: переме́нный (ru) (pereménnyj), изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj), непостоя́нный (ru) (nepostojánnyj) Spanish: variable (es) Swedish: ombytlig (sv), ostadig (sv), växlande (sv) Telugu: అస్థిర (asthira) Ukrainian: змі́нний m (zmínnyj), мінли́вий (uk) m (minlývyj), змі́нна f (zmínna), мінли́ва f (minlýva)

marked by diversity or difference

Bulgarian: различаващ се (različavašt se) Dutch: veranderlijk (nl), variabel (nl), schommelend (nl), wisselend (nl), onbestendig (nl) Finnish: vaihteleva (fi) French: variable (fr) Georgian: ცვალებადი (cvalebadi) Greek: μεταβλητός (el) m (metavlitós) Italian: variabile (it) Norwegian: varierende Polish: zmienny (pl) Portuguese: variável (pt) Romanian: variabil (ro) m or n Russian: переме́нный (ru) (pereménnyj), изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj), непостоя́нный (ru) (nepostojánnyj) Swedish: varierande (sv), omväxlande (sv) Ukrainian: змі́нний m (zmínnyj), мінли́вий (uk) m (minlývyj), змі́нна (zmínna), мінли́ва f (minlýva)

mathematics: having no fixed quantitative value

Bulgarian: променлив (bg) (promenliv) Catalan: variable (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 變數／变数 (zh) (biànshù) Czech: variabilní, proměnný Dutch: veranderlijk (nl), variabel (nl) Estonian: muutuja Finnish: vaihteleva (fi) French: variable (fr) f Georgian: ცვლადი (cvladi) German: variabel (de) Greek: μεταβλητή (el) f (metavlití) Hebrew: משתנה (he) m (mishtane) Indonesian: variabel (id) Italian: variabile (it) Japanese: 可変 (ja) (kahen) Latin: variābilis Macedonian: про́менлив m (prómenliv) Maori: taurangi Norwegian: variabel Persian: متغیر (fa) (moteğayyer) Polish: zmienny (pl) Portuguese: variável (pt) Romanian: variabil (ro) m or n Russian: переме́нный (ru) (pereménnyj), переме́нная (ru) f (pereménnaja) Swedish: variabel (sv) Tagalog: aligan Telugu: చర (cara) Ukrainian: змі́нна f (zmínna)

biology: tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type

Bulgarian: изменчив (bg) (izmenčiv) Norwegian: avvikende Polish: zmienny (pl) Romanian: schimbabil m or n, variabil (ro) m or n Swedish: avvikande (sv)

Noun

variable (plural variables)

1. Something that is variable.

   Synonym: changeable

   Antonyms: constant, invariable

2. Something whose value may be dictated or discovered.

   Synonym: parameter

   There are several variables to consider here.

   • 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:

     Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.

3. 

   English Wikipedia has an article on:

   Variable (mathematics)

   Wikipedia
   (mathematics) A quantity that may assume any one of a set of values.

   Synonyms: variable quantity; see also Thesaurus:variable

4. (mathematics) A symbol representing a variable.
5. (programming) A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read them.
6. (astronomy) A variable star.
7. (nautical) A shifting wind, or one that varies in force.
8. (nautical, in the plural) Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected, especially the parts between the trade-wind belts.

Hyponyms

• across variable
• Bernoulli variable
• Boolean variable
• bound variable
• cardinal variable
• categorical variable
• cepheid variable
• Cepheid variable
• class variable
• cluster variable
• confounding variable
• continuously variable transmission
• continuous variable
• control variable
• dependent variable
• discrete variable
• dummy variable
• environment variable
• extraneous variable
• flow variable
• free variable
• helium variable
• hidden variable
• hypergeometric random variable
• independent variable
• indicator variable
• instance variable
• interval variable
• latent variable
• manipulated variable
• member variable
• metasyntactic variable
• Mira variable
• motor variable
• nominal variable
• normal random variable
• ordinal variable
• outcome variable
• pattern variable
• predictor variable
• propositional variable
• random variable
• ratio variable
• reference variable
• register variable
• responding variable
• schematic variable
• slack variable
• sociolinguistic variable
• standardized variable
• standard normal random variable
• state variable
• stock variable
• through variable
• variable variable

 

• See also Thesaurus:variable

Derived terms

• Hubble-Sandage variable
• microvariable
• variably
• vary

 

Related terms

• variable star

 

Translations

something that is variable

Asturian: variable f Catalan: variable (ca) f Czech: proměnná f Dutch: variabele (nl) m or f, veranderlijke (nl) m or f French: variable (fr) f Galician: variable (gl) f, variábel (gl) f German: Variable (de) f Indonesian: variabel (id) Italian: variabile (it) f Norwegian: variabel m Polish: zmienna (pl) f Portuguese: variável (pt) f Romanian: variabilă (ro) f Spanish: variable (es) f Swedish: variabel (sv) c Telugu: చరము (te) (caramu) Turkish: değişken (tr)

something whose value may be dictated or discovered

Czech: faktor (cs) m Dutch: veranderlijke (nl) m or f, variabele (nl) m or f, variabele waarde f Finnish: muuttuja (fi) French: variable (fr) f, paramètre (fr) m German: Variable (de) f Italian: variabile (it) f Norwegian: variabel m Polish: zmienna (pl) f Portuguese: variável (pt) f Russian: неизве́стное (ru) n (neizvéstnoje) Swedish: parameter (sv) c, variabel (sv) c Turkish: değişken (tr)

mathematics: a quantity that may assume any one of a set of values

Albanian: variabël ? Arabic: مُتَغَيِّر m (mutaḡayyir) Asturian: variable f Azerbaijani: dəyişən (az) Belarusian: пераме́нная f (pjeramjénnaja), зме́нная f (zmjénnaja) Bulgarian: проме́нлива (bg) f (proménliva) Burmese: ကိန်းရှင် (my) (kin:hrang) Catalan: variable (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 變數／变数 (zh) (biànshù), 變量／变量 (zh) (biànliàng) Czech: proměnná f Danish: variabel c Dutch: variabele (nl) m or f, veranderlijke (nl) m or f Estonian: muutuja Finnish: muuttuja (fi) French: variable (fr) f, paramètre (fr) m Galician: variable (gl) f, variábel (gl) f German: Variable (de) f, Parameter (de) m Greek: μεταβλητή (el) f (metavlití) Hebrew: מִשְׁתַּנֶּה (he) f (mishtané) Hindi: चर (hi) ? (car) Hungarian: változó (hu) Icelandic: breyta (is) f Indonesian: variabel (id), peubah (id) Italian: variabile (it) f, parametro (it) m Japanese: 変数 (ja) (へんすう, hensū), 変項 (へんこう, henkō) Kazakh: айнымалы (ainymaly) Khmer: អថេរ (km) (ʼɑthee) Korean: 변수(變數) (ko) (byeonsu) Lao: ຕົວແປ (tūa pǣ) Macedonian: променлива f (promenliva) Maori: taurangi Mongolian: хувьсагч (mn) (xuvʹsagč) Norwegian: variabel m Persian: متغیر (fa) (moteğayyer) Polish: zmienna (pl) f Portuguese: variável (pt) f Romanian: variabilă (ro) f, parametru (ro) m Russian: переме́нная (ru) f (pereménnaja) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: променљива f, промјенљива f Roman: promenljiva f, promjenljiva (sh) f Slovak: premenná f Slovene: spremenljívka (sl) f Spanish: variable (es) f Swedish: variabel (sv) c Tagalog: aligin Tajik: мутағайир (mutaġayir) Telugu: చరరాశి (cararāśi) Thai: ตัวแปร (th) (dtuua-bprɛɛ) Turkish: değişken (tr) Ukrainian: змі́нна f (zmínna) Vietnamese: biên sô (變數)

mathematics: a symbol representing a variable

Dutch: variabel (nl) m or f, veranderlijk (nl) m or f Finnish: muuttuja (fi) French: variable (fr) f, paramètre (fr) m German: Variable (de) f, Symbol (de) n, Platzhalter (de) m, Variablensymbol n, Greek: μεταβλητή (el) f (metavlití) Japanese: 変数 (ja) (へんすう, hensū) Korean: 변수 (ko) (byeonsu) Norwegian: variabel m Persian: متغیر (fa) (moteğayyer) Polish: zmienna (pl) f Portuguese: variável (pt) f Romanian: variabilă (ro) f Russian: неизве́стная (ru) f (neizvéstnaja), переме́нная (ru) f (pereménnaja) Swedish: variabel (sv) c Tagalog: aligin Thai: ตัวแปร (th) (dtuua-bprɛɛ) Turkish: değişken (tr)

computing: a named mutable piece of storage

Arabic: مُتَغَيِّر m (mutaḡayyir) Chinese: Mandarin: 變量／变量 (zh) (biànliàng) Czech: proměnná f Dutch: variabele (nl) m or f Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: muuttuja (fi) French: variable (fr) f German: Variable (de) f Greek: μεταβλητή (el) f (metavlití) Hebrew: מִשְׁתַּנֶּה (he) f (mishtané) Hindi: चर (hi) ? (car) Japanese: 変数 (ja) (へんすう, hensū) Korean: 변수(變數) (ko) (byeonsu) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: variabel m Persian: متغیر (fa) (moteğayyer) Polish: zmienna (pl) f Portuguese: variável (pt) f Russian: переме́нная (ru) f (pereménnaja) Swedish: variabel (sv) c Thai: ตัวแปร (th) (dtuua-bprɛɛ) Turkish: değişken (tr) Ukrainian: змі́нна f (zmínna) Vietnamese: biên sô (變數)

astronomy: a variable star — see variable star

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Lithuanian: (please verify) kintamasis (lt) m Slovak: (please verify) premenná f Spanish: (please verify) variable (es) f

See also

• argument
• variate

Further reading

• “variable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “variable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “variable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin variābilis.

Adjective

variable (epicene, plural variables)

1. variable (able to vary)
2. variable (likely to vary)

Noun

variable f (plural variables)

1. (mathematics) variable (a quantity that may assume any one of a set of values)

Related terms

• variación
• variar

 

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin variābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bə.ɾiˈab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [və.ɾiˈab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [va.ɾiˈa.ble]

Adjective

variable m or f (masculine and feminine plural variables)

1. variable (able to vary)

   Antonym: invariable

2. variable (likely to vary)

   Antonym: invariable

3. (mathematics) variable (having no fixed quantitative value)

Derived terms

• invariable
• variabilitat
• variablement

 

Noun

variable f (plural variables)

1. variable (something that is variable)
2. (mathematics) variable (a quantity that may assume any one of a set of values)

Related terms

• invariable
• variació
• variar

 

Further reading

• “variable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “variable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “variable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “variable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Adjective

variable

1. plural and definite singular attributive of variabel

Noun

variable

1. indefinite plural of variabel

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin variābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.ʁjabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

variable (plural variables)

1. variable

   Antonym: invariable

Derived terms

• à géométrie variable
• étoile variable
• variablement

 

Noun

variable f (plural variables)

1. (mathematics) variable (quantity that may assume any one of a set of values)

   Antonym: constante

Derived terms

• variable de classe

 

Related terms

• variante
• variation

 

Further reading

• “variable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• aabeilrv, balivera

Galician

Alternative forms

• variável (reintegrationist)
• variábel

Etymology

From Latin variābilis.

Adjective

variable m or f (plural variables)

1. variable, changeable

   Antonym: invariable

Noun

variable f (plural variables)

1. variable

Related terms

• variación
• variar

 

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

variable

1. definite singular of variabel
2. plural of variabel

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

variable

1. definite singular of variabel
2. plural of variabel

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin variābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈɾjable/ [baˈɾja.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: va‧ria‧ble

Adjective

variable m or f (masculine and feminine plural variables)

1. variable

Derived terms

• batará variable
• variabilidad
• variablemente

 

Noun

variable f (plural variables)

1. variable

Derived terms

• variable aleatoria
• variable dependiente
• variable independiente

 

Further reading

• “variable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Adjective

variable

1. definite natural masculine singular of variabel

Anagrams

• variabel