diff --git a/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi b/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi
index b38e2120d..6bc2bf199 100644
--- a/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi
+++ b/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi
@@ -391,12 +391,10 @@ class FontConfigPattern(TypedDict):
     scalable: bool
     outline: bool
     color: bool
+    variable: bool
 
 
-def fc_list(
-    spacing: int = -1,
-    allow_bitmapped_fonts: bool = False
-) -> Tuple[FontConfigPattern, ...]:
+def fc_list(spacing: int = -1, allow_bitmapped_fonts: bool = False, only_variable: bool = False) -> Tuple[FontConfigPattern, ...]:
     pass
 
 
diff --git a/kitty/fontconfig.c b/kitty/fontconfig.c
index feb9292f1..3e6c2379e 100644
--- a/kitty/fontconfig.c
+++ b/kitty/fontconfig.c
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ pattern_as_dict(FcPattern *pat) {
     S(FC_FULLNAME, full_name);
     S(FC_POSTSCRIPT_NAME, postscript_name);
     LS(FC_FONT_FEATURES, fontfeatures);
+    B(FC_VARIABLE, variable);
     I(FC_WEIGHT, weight);
     I(FC_WIDTH, width)
     I(FC_SLANT, slant);
@@ -229,22 +230,28 @@ font_set(FcFontSet *fs) {
 #define AP(func, which, in, desc) if (!func(pat, which, in)) { PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError, "Failed to add %s to fontconfig pattern", desc, NULL); goto end; }
 
 static PyObject*
-fc_list(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *args) {
+fc_list(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kw) {
     ensure_initialized();
-    int allow_bitmapped_fonts = 0, spacing = -1;
+    int allow_bitmapped_fonts = 0, spacing = -1, only_variable = 0;
     PyObject *ans = NULL;
     FcObjectSet *os = NULL;
     FcPattern *pat = NULL;
     FcFontSet *fs = NULL;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|ip", &spacing, &allow_bitmapped_fonts)) return NULL;
+    static char *kwds[] = {"spacing", "allow_bitmapped_fonts", "only_variable", NULL};
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kw, "|ipp", kwds, &spacing, &allow_bitmapped_fonts, &only_variable)) return NULL;
     pat = FcPatternCreate();
     if (pat == NULL) return PyErr_NoMemory();
     if (!allow_bitmapped_fonts) {
-        AP(FcPatternAddBool, FC_OUTLINE, true, "outline");
-        AP(FcPatternAddBool, FC_SCALABLE, true, "scalable");
+        AP(FcPatternAddBool, FC_OUTLINE, FcTrue, "outline");
+        AP(FcPatternAddBool, FC_SCALABLE, FcTrue, "scalable");
     }
     if (spacing > -1) AP(FcPatternAddInteger, FC_SPACING, spacing, "spacing");
-    os = FcObjectSetBuild(FC_FILE, FC_POSTSCRIPT_NAME, FC_FAMILY, FC_STYLE, FC_FULLNAME, FC_WEIGHT, FC_WIDTH, FC_SLANT, FC_HINT_STYLE, FC_INDEX, FC_HINTING, FC_SCALABLE, FC_OUTLINE, FC_COLOR, FC_SPACING, NULL);
+#define basic_properties FC_FILE, FC_POSTSCRIPT_NAME, FC_FAMILY, FC_STYLE, FC_FULLNAME, FC_WEIGHT, FC_WIDTH, FC_SLANT, FC_HINT_STYLE, FC_INDEX, FC_HINTING, FC_SCALABLE, FC_OUTLINE, FC_COLOR, FC_SPACING
+    if (only_variable) {
+        AP(FcPatternAddBool, FC_VARIABLE, FcTrue, "variable");
+        os = FcObjectSetBuild(basic_properties, FC_VARIABLE, FC_FONT_VARIATIONS, NULL);
+    } else os = FcObjectSetBuild(basic_properties, NULL);
+#undef basic_properties
     if (!os) { PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "Failed to create fontconfig object set"); goto end; }
     fs = FcFontList(NULL, pat, os);
     if (!fs) { PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "Failed to create fontconfig font set"); goto end; }
@@ -464,7 +471,7 @@ end:
 
 #undef AP
 static PyMethodDef module_methods[] = {
-    METHODB(fc_list, METH_VARARGS),
+    {"fc_list", (PyCFunction)(void (*) (void))(fc_list), METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, NULL},
     METHODB(fc_match, METH_VARARGS),
     METHODB(fc_match_postscript_name, METH_VARARGS),
     {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}        /* Sentinel */