A variant is a version of something that differs in some way from the original or from other versions, while still being recognizably the same basic thing. When scientists track different variants of a virus, they're studying versions that have mutated slightly but remain the same type of virus. When a game company releases a variant of a popular board game, they've changed some rules or pieces while keeping the core gameplay intact.

The word appears often in genetics and biology. Geneticists study genetic variants to understand how small differences in DNA affect traits like eye color or height. In language, spelling variants are different accepted ways to spell the same word: “doughnut” and “donut” are variants, as are the British “colour” and American “color.”

In everyday use, you might hear about variant covers of comic books (different artwork for the same issue) or variant recipes (different ways to make the same dish, like substituting honey for sugar in cookies). The key idea is recognizable similarity with meaningful difference. A chocolate cake and a vanilla cake aren't variants of each other because they're fundamentally different flavors, but chocolate cakes made with butter versus oil are variants because they're different versions of the same recipe.