avatar

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Avatar

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• avatara, (obsolete) Avator

[edit] Etymology

From Hindustani अवतार / اوتار (avatār), from Sanskrit अवतार (ava-tāra), “‘descent of a deity from a heaven’”), a compound of अव (ava), “‘off, away, down’”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root √tṝ (“‘to pass across or over’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæv.əˌtɑɹ/, /ˌæv.əˈtɑɹ/
• Hyphenation: av‧atar

[edit] Noun

avatar (plural avatars)

1. In Hinduism the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
2. The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.
   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].

     And honest Alan, who was a grim fire-eater in his day, has in this new avatar no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attention from his Ovid...

3. (computing) A digital representation of a person or being. As used in online communities such as Second Life.
   • 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

     The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.

   • 1986 Habitat, video game published by Lucasfilms. Cited as the original source of this term in this context under the acknowledgments for Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.

[edit] Translations

often used in games, virtual realities, message boards, instant messaging, blogs, etc. It is often a caricature, cartoon or simple image as opposed to a realistic photo of the user.

[edit] French

[edit] Etymology

From Hindustani अवतार / اوتار (avatār), from Sanskrit अवतार (ava-tāra), “‘descent of a deity from a heaven’”), a compound of अव (ava), “‘off, away, down’”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root √tṝ (“‘to pass across or over’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /a.va.taʁ/, X-SAMPA: /a.va.taR/
• Homophones: avatars
• Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar

[edit] Noun

avatar m. (plural avatars)

1. (religion, hinduism) avatar
2. (computing) avatar

[edit] Serbo-Croatian

[edit] Noun

avàtār m. (Cyrillic spelling ава̀та̄р)

1. avatar

[edit] Declension