avatar

English

WOTD – 2 July 2010

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• avatara (rare)
• Avator (obsolete)

Etymology

1784, from Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) 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 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 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: av‧a‧tar

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 or gaming) A digital representation or handle of a person or being; often, it can take on any of various forms, as a participant chooses. i.e. 3D, animated, photo, sketch
   • 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.

Translations

The earthly incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu

• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: অবতার
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化身 (zh) (huàshēn)

• Finnish: avatar (fi)
• French: avatar (fr) m, incarnation (fr)
• German: Avatar (de) m, Avatara m, Herabkunft f, Inkarnation (de) f
• Gujarati: અવતાર (avatār)
• Hindi: अवतार (avatār)
• Hungarian: avatára
• Italian: avatar m, incarnazione
• Japanese: 天降 (あまくだり, amakudari)
• Kannada: ಅವತಾರ (kn) (avatār)

• Khmer: អវតារ (km) (a’vea’taa)
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Marathi: अवतार (avatāra)
• Oriya: ଅବତାର
• Portuguese: avatar (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਅਵਤਾਰ m (avatāra)
• Russian: аватара (ru) f (avatára), аватар (ru) m (avatár), воплощение (ru) n (voploščénije)
• Sanskrit: अवतार (ava-tāra)
• Spanish: avatar (es) m, encarnación
• Tamil: அவதாரம் (ta) (avatāram)
• Telugu: అవతారము (te) (avatāramu), అవతారం (te) (avatāram)

The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification

• Arabic: أفاتار m ('afataar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化身 (zh) (huàshēn)

• Finnish: avatar (fi), ruumiillistuma, henkilöitymä
• French: avatar (fr) m, matérialisation (fr), personnification (fr)
• German: Verkörperung f
• Hungarian: inkarnáció (hu), megtestesülés (hu)
• Japanese: 化身 (けしん, keshin), アバター (abatā)

• Korean: 아바타 (ko) (abata)
• Malayalam: അവതാരം (ml) (avatāram)
• Marathi: अवतार m (avatāra)
• Portuguese: personificação (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਅਵਤਾਰ (avatāra)
• Russian: воплощение (ru) n (voploščénije), аватар (ru) m (avatár)
• Spanish: materialización f, personificación f
• Thai: อวตาร (th) (à-wá-dtaan)

A digital representation of a person or being

• Arabic: أفاتار m ('afataar)
• 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
• Finnish: avatar (fi), hahmo (fi)
• French: avatar (fr) m, emblème (fr), symbole (fr)
• German: Avatar (de) m

• Italian: avatar m, emblema (it), simbolo (it)
• Japanese: アバター (abatā)
• Korean: 아바타 (ko) (abata)
• Portuguese: avatar (pt) m
• Russian: аватар (ru) m (avatár)
• Spanish: avatar (es) m, emblema (es), símbolo (es)
• Swedish: avatar (sv)
• Thai: อวตาร (th) (à-wá-dtaan)
• Turkish: avatar (tr)

See also

 Avatar on Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons

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French

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 cross”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.va.taʁ/
• Homophone: avatars
• Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar

Noun

avatar m (plural avatars)

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

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Italian

Noun

Wikipedia ^it

avatar m (invariable)

1. avatar (all senses)

Anagrams

• tarava, varata

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Portuguese

Noun

avatar m

1. avatar

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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