Definition of "CNV"

"During the past year alone, fast on the heels of two breakthrough studies, hundreds of submicroscopic copy-number variants (CNVs) and inversions have been described in the human genome."

2006, Lars Feuk et al., “Structural variation in the human genome”, in Nature, 7:85

"DNA copy number variation has long been associated with specific chromosomal rearrangements and genomic disorders, but its ubiquity in mammalian genomes was not fully realized until recently. Although our understanding of the extent of this variation is still developing, it seems likely that, at least in humans, copy number variants (CNVs) account for a substantial amount of genetic variation."

2006, Freeman et al., "Copy number variation: New insights into genome diversity" Genome Res 2006; 16: 949-61.