avatar
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[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
|
Singular |
Plural |
avatar (plural avatars)
- In Hinduism the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- 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...
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- (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.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
[edit] Translations
The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification
|
A digital representation of a person or being
The earthly incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu
|
|
[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
[edit] Noun
avatar m. (plural avatars)
[edit] Serbo-Croatian
[edit] Noun
avàtār m. (Cyrillic spelling ава̀та̄р)
[edit] Declension
declension of avatar
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | avàtār | avatari |
| genitive | avatára | avatara |
| dative | avataru | avatarima |
| accusative | avatara | avatare |
| vocative | avatare | avatari |
| locative | avataru | avatarima |
| instrumental | avatarom | avatarima |