同一個表面上的多種顏色
這是這個字最原本、最具體的用法，核心畫面本身就是它。
adjective · C1
Used about a plant, a leaf, or a flower that has marks, stripes, edges, or patches of two or more colours on the same surface, instead of being one even colour all over.
斑葉的／雜色的
核心畫面
You can picture one surface that refuses to stay a single colour. A leaf is green, and then cream breaks in along the edge, or yellow splashes across the middle. From a distance it is one leaf; up close it is clearly two or three things at once. That is the whole word: one object, not uniform inside itself. When English carries the picture off the plant, the colours turn into kinds — one crowd, one career, one street, with many different sorts packed inside.
可以想成一片不肯維持單一顏色的葉子。中間是綠的，邊緣忽然冒出奶油色，或是中央潑上一塊黃。遠看是一片葉子，靠近看卻明明…更多收起
可以想成一片不肯維持單一顏色的葉子。中間是綠的，邊緣忽然冒出奶油色，或是中央潑上一塊黃。遠看是一片葉子，靠近看卻明明是兩、三種顏色同時存在。這就是整個字的畫面：一個東西，但內部不均勻。當英文把這個畫面從植物身上搬走的時候，顏色就換成了「種類」——一群人、一段經歷、一條老街，看起來是一個整體，裡面卻什麼都有。From the word’s history
The packet's Wiktionary entry gives variegated as variegate + -ed, tracing back through Late Latin variegō to Latin varius, 'spotted, of many kinds'. The same varius stands behind various and variety, so 'more than one kind' sits inside the word from the start.
資料裡的 Wiktionary 說明寫的是 variegate 加 -ed，往前經過晚期拉丁文 variegō，回到拉丁文 varius（有斑點的、各式各樣的）。同一個 varius 也是 various 和 variety 的源頭。所以「不只一種」這個意思，從一開始就在字裡面。
Wiktionary etymology supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:832437032): Latin varius > Late Latin variegō > English variegate + -ed
Two branches
同一群東西裡的多種類型（正式）
把葉子上的「顏色不均勻」換成一群人或一堆事情的「成分不均勻」：外表是一個整體，裡面卻不是同一種。這是一條教學上的聯想，不是在說歷史上先有哪個用法。
adjective · C2
Made up of many different kinds of thing or people. This use is formal and is found mostly in writing.
形形色色的