A categorical variable has values that you can put into a countable number of distinct groups based on a characteristic. For a categorical variable, you can assign categories but the categories have no natural order. If the variable has a natural order, it is an ordinal variable. Categorical variables are also called qualitative variables or attribute variables.
For example, college major is a categorical variable that can have values such as psychology, political science, engineering, biology, etc.
Synonyms:
Qualitative variables, Attribute variables