avatar

See also: Avatar

English

WOTD – 2 July 2010

Alternative forms

• avatara (rare)
• Avator (obsolete)

Etymology

Attested 1784, borrowed from Hindustani अवतार / اوتار‎ (avtār), from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root √तॄ (√tṝ, “to cross”).

In computing use, saw some use in 1980s videos games – 1985 online role-playing game Habitat by Lucasfilm Games (today LucasArts), by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, later versions of the Ultima series (following religious use in 1985 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar), and 1989 pen and paper role-playing game Shadowrun. Popularized by the 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌæv.əˈtɑː/, /ˈæv.ə.tɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæv.ə.tɑɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: av‧a‧tar
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Noun

avatar (plural avatars)

2. (Hinduism) An incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
4. The embodiment of an idea or concept; an instantiation, especially a personification or incarnation.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 177:

     ...that a new avatar of Mrs. Siddons has appeared at Covent Garden, in the shape of her niece Fanny Kemble...

   • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Dedication”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, Limited., published 1886, →OCLC, pages v–vi:

     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, [...] [Contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel.]

6. (computing, video games, metaverse) A complex and dynamic digital representation of a person or being in the form of a digital model, used online as a simulation or emulation of a person, or as a person's online alter ego, in a virtual world, virtual chat room, or metaverse.
   • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, pages 35–36:

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

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Computers: Virtual Intelligence (VI) Codex entry:

     A virtual intelligence is an advanced form of user interface software. VIs use a variety of methods to simulate natural conversation, including an audio interface and an avatar personality to interact with.

   • 2013 November 27, Roger Cohen, “The past in our future”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Devices now track and record our every move and, whether we like it or not, each one of us will bequeath to posterity a virtual avatar, a digital being whose calls, messages, transactions, loves and losses will live on in a vast, unregulated cyberspace. The afterlife has arrived, at least for our cyberbeings.

8. (computing, video games) A simple and static or nearly static digital representation of a person or being in the form of a small digital object, used online as a simulacrum or token of a person or that person's online alter ego, in any digital environment but especially in non-virtual, non-metaversal ones.

   Hyponyms: profile picture, user pic

   Coordinate term: icon

Derived terms

• brand avatar

Descendants

• → Japanese: アバター

Translations

earthly incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu

• Assamese: অৱতাৰ (owotar)
• Bengali: অবতার (bn) (obotar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化身 (zh) (huàshēn)

• Esperanto: avataro
• Finnish: avatar (fi), inkarnaatio
• French: avatar (fr) m, incarnation (fr) f
• Georgian: ავატარა (avaṭara)
• German: Avatar (de) m, Avatara (de) m, Herabkunft f, Inkarnation (de) f
• Greek: αβατάρα f (avatára)
• Gujarati: અવતાર ? (avatār)
• Hindi: अवतार (hi) m (avtār)
• Hungarian: avatára
• Indonesian: avatar (id), awatara
• Italian: avatar (it) m, incarnazione (it) f
• Japanese: 天降 (あまくだり, amakudari), 天下り (ja) (amakudari)
• Kannada: ಅವತಾರ (kn) (avatāra)
• Khmer: អវតារ (km) (a’vea’taa)
• Malayalam:അവതാരം (ml) (avatāraṃ), അവതാർ (avatāṟ)
• Marathi: अवतार ? (avtār)
• Oriya: ଅବତାର (ôbôtarô)
• Polish: awatar (pl) m, awatara (pl) f
• Portuguese: avatar (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਅਵਤਾਰ (pa) m (avatār)
• Russian: авата́ра (ru) f (avatára), авата́р (ru) m (avatár), воплоще́ние (ru) n (voploščénije)
• Sanskrit: अवतार (sa) m (avatāra)
• Sindhi: اوتار‎
• Spanish: avatar (es) m, encarnación (es) f
• Tamil: அவதாரம் (ta) (avatāram)
• Telugu: అవతారము (te) (avatāramu), అవతారం (te) (avatāraṁ)
• Thai: อวตาร (th) (à-wá-dtaan)
• Ukrainian: аватар (uk) m (avatar), аватара (uk) f (avatara)
• Urdu: اَوتار‎ m (avtār)

The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification

• Arabic: أَفَاتَار‎ m (ʾafatār)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化身 (zh) (huàshēn)

• Dutch: verpersoonlijking (nl)
• Esperanto: avataro
• Finnish: ruumiillistuma, henkilöitymä (fi), avatar (fi)
• French: avatar (fr) m, matérialisation (fr) f, personnification (fr) f, allégorie (fr) f
• Georgian: განსხეულება (gansxeuleba), პერსონიფიკაცია (ṗersonipiḳacia)
• German: Verkörperung (de) f
• Greek: ενσάρκωση (el) f (ensárkosi)
• Hungarian: inkarnáció (hu), megtestesülés (hu)
• Japanese: 化身 (ja) (けしん, keshin), アバター (abatā)
• Korean: 아바타 (ko) (abata)
• Malayalam: അവതാരം (ml) (avatāraṃ)
• Marathi: अवतार m (avtār)
• Polish: personifikacja (pl) f, ucieleśnienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: personificação (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਅਵਤਾਰ (pa) m (avatār)
• Russian: воплоще́ние (ru) n (voploščénije), авата́р (ru) m (avatár)
• Spanish: materialización f, personificación (es) f
• Thai: บุคคลวัต (th), บุคลาธิษฐาน
• Ukrainian: втілення (uk) n (vtilennja), персоніфікація (uk) f (personifikacija)

digital representation of a person or being

• Arabic: أَفَاتَار‎ m (ʾafatār)
• Catalan: avatar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 紙娃娃／纸娃娃 (zhǐwáwá), 頭像／头像 (zh) (tóuxiàng)

• Czech: avatar m
• Dutch: avatar (nl) c, (informal) ava c
• Esperanto: avataro
• Finnish: hahmo (fi), virtuaalihahmo, avatar (fi)
• French: avatar (fr) m, emblème (fr) m, symbole (fr) m, photo de profil (fr) f
• Georgian: ავატარი (avaṭari)
• German: Avatar (de) m
• Greek: άβαταρ (el) n (ávatar), αβατάρ (el) n (avatár)
• Indonesian: avatar (id)
• Italian: avatar (it) m, emblema (it), simbolo (it)
• Japanese: アバター (abatā)
• Korean: 아바타 (ko) (abata)
• Maori: tuatangata
• Polish: awatar (pl) m
• Portuguese: avatar (pt) m
• Russian: авата́р (ru) m (avatár)
• Spanish: avatar (es) m, emblema (es), símbolo (es)
• Swedish: avatar (sv)
• Thai: อวตาร (th) (à-wá-dtaan), อวทาร์ (à-wá-taa)
• Turkish: avatar (tr)
• Ukrainian: аватар (uk) m (avatar)

See also

• Avatar on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Catalan

Etymology

From English, from Sanskrit.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ə.vəˈta/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ə.bəˈta/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaɾ/

Noun

avatar m (plural avatars)

1. (computer games) avatar

Anagrams

• avarat, tarava

Finnish

Etymology

From English avatar, from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑʋɑtɑr/, [ˈɑʋɑt̪ɑr]
• Rhymes: -ɑʋɑtɑr
• Syllabification^(key): a‧va‧tar

Noun

avatar

1. avatar (earthly incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu)
2. (rare) avatar (physical embodiment of an idea or concept)

   Synonym: ruumiillistuma

3. (rare) avatar (digital representation of a person or being)

   Synonyms: hahmo, virtuaalihahmo

Declension

Inflection of avatar (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		avatar	avatarit
genitive		avatarin	avatarien
partitive		avataria	avatareja
illative		avatariin	avatareihin
		singular	plural
nominative		avatar	avatarit
accusative	nom.	avatar	avatarit
	gen.	avatarin
genitive		avatarin	avatarien
partitive		avataria	avatareja
inessive		avatarissa	avatareissa
elative		avatarista	avatareista
illative		avatariin	avatareihin
adessive		avatarilla	avatareilla
ablative		avatarilta	avatareilta
allative		avatarille	avatareille
essive		avatarina	avatareina
translative		avatariksi	avatareiksi
instructive		—	avatarein
abessive		avataritta	avatareitta
comitative		—	avatareineen

Possessive forms of avatar (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	avatarini	avatarimme
2nd person	avatarisi	avatarinne
3rd person	avatarinsa

French

Etymology

From Hindustani अवतार / اوتار‎ (avtār), from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तरति (√tṝ, “to cross”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.va.taʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: avatars
• Hyphenation: ava‧tar

Noun

avatar m (plural avatars)

1. (Hinduism) avatar
2. (computing) avatar

Further reading

• “avatar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English avatar, from Hindustani अवतार / اوتار‎ (avtār), from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तरति (√tṝ, “to cross”). Doublet of awatara.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /avatar/
• Hyphenation: ava‧tar

Noun

avatar

1. avatar,
   1. (Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.

      Synonym: awatara

   2. (computing) a digital representation of a person or being; often, it can take on any of various forms, as a participant chooses. e.g. 3D, animated, photo, sketch of a person or a person's alter ego, sometimes used in a virtual world or virtual chat room.

Further reading

• “avatar” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English avatar.

Noun

avatar m (invariable)

1. avatar (all senses)

Anagrams

• tarava, varata

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaʁ/ [a.vaˈtah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaʁ/ [a.vaˈtah]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaʁ/ [a.vaˈtaχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaɻ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /a.vaˈtaɾ/

Noun

avatar m (plural avatares)

1. avatar

Romanian

Etymology

From French avatar.

Noun

avatar n (plural avataruri)

1. avatar

Declension

Declension of avatar

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) avatar	avatarul	(niște) avataruri	avatarurile
genitive/dative	(unui) avatar	avatarului	(unor) avataruri	avatarurilor
vocative	avatarule		avatarurilor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʋǎtaːr/
• Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar

Noun

avàtār m (Cyrillic spelling ава̀та̄р)

1. avatar

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

Spanish

Alternative forms

• avatara

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abaˈtaɾ/ [a.β̞aˈt̪aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: a‧va‧tar

Noun

avatar m (plural avatares)

1. avatar
2. (in the plural) vicissitudes, ups and downs

Further reading

• “avatar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014