Meaning

noun a collection containing a variety of sorts of things

noun noticeable heterogeneity

noun (biology) a taxonomic category consisting of members of a species that differ from others of the same species in minor but heritable characteristics

originFrom Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various + -ety. Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂-…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0