version
Pluralversions
Pluralversions
Formsversions, versioning, versioned
- 1A particular form or variation of something, including a numbered release of software, firmware, or hardware.
The museum displayed an early version of the telephone next to a modern model.
Different versions of the legend appear in cultures across the region.
UsageUsually a version of something; for software, the latest version or version 2.0.
- 2An account or description given from one person's standpoint, especially as set against a different account.
The witness gave a version of events that contradicted the official report.
Each sibling had a different version of how the family feud began.
Similaraccount, story, interpretation, side, take
- 3A translation of a text from one language into another.
Scholars still debate which version of the poem best captures the original Greek.
The library holds three versions of the epic, each by a different translator.
UsageOften names the language: an English version of the novel, the Spanish version.
Similartranslation, rendering, rendition
Oppositeoriginal
Note
Translation is a kind of turning. The word goes back to Latin vertō, "I turn", through Medieval Latin and Middle French, and English has used it since the 16th century for carrying a text from one tongue into another. The sense is most visible in the names of Bible translations, where it is capitalized as part of the title: the King James Version.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Version derives from Latin vertō through Medieval Latin and Middle French. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin vertō means “I turn”. en.wiktionary.org
- English has used version in the translation sense since the sixteenth century; the 1582 Rheims New Testament preface provides an early example. en.wikisource.org
- King James Version is a name for a Bible translation, with Version capitalized. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 4To keep track of a file, document, or other resource in a versioning system, so that earlier revisions remain available.
The lab versions its data sets to keep experiments reproducible.
Developers version their configuration files alongside the source code.
UsageRegular forms: versioned, versioning, often used before nouns: versioned documents, a versioning system.
- 5An assignment given at school that usually asks for a text written in a language other than the student's own.
Note
A schoolroom term from the days of composition drills: a pupil's version was a piece written in a foreign language, set and marked like any other exercise. A modern reader meeting "his Latin version" will likely take it as a translation, which is close enough to blur the difference.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- 'Version' historically denoted a school exercise, generally involving composition in a foreign language. en.wiktionary.org
- Historical school language exercises were assigned and marked by teachers. gutenberg.org
- 6A change of form, direction, or state; a transformation or conversion.
The version of air into water.
1627, Francis [Bacon], Sylua SyluarumExternal cephalic version is a process by which a breech baby can sometimes be turned from buttocks or foot first to head first.
Note
The plainest form of the "turning" root behind the translation sense. Francis Bacon, in his natural history Sylva Sylvarum, writes of "the version of air into water," a turning of one substance into another, and that general use is now obsolete. Obstetrics keeps the literal turning alive: external cephalic version is the procedure that turns a breech baby so that it lies head first.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The translation sense of version derives ultimately from a root meaning “to turn.” en.wiktionary.org
- Francis Bacon wrote Sylva Sylvarum, a natural history. echo-old.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
- Bacon uses the quoted wording to describe conversion of air into water. en.wiktionary.org
- External cephalic version turns a breech baby into a head-first position. guysandstthomas.nhs.uk
- 7An instrumental recording of a song, especially the B-side of a reggae single, played in sound system culture for deejays to perform over.
- 8A turn of both eyes together, with each moving through an equal angle in the same direction.
- 9A condition in which the axis of the uterus is tilted from its normal position without the organ bending on itself.
- 10An obstetric maneuver in which a doctor or midwife rotates an unborn baby within the uterus so it is better positioned for birth.
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Origin
Latin vertō ("I turn") led to Medieval Latin versiō and then Middle French version, which English has used since the 16th century.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Latin vertō means "I turn". en.wiktionary.org
- Medieval Latin versiō derives from Latin vertō. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle French version derives from Medieval Latin versiō, and English borrowed it from Middle French. en.wiktionary.org
- English has used version since the 16th century. en.wiktionary.org