avatar
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
1784,[1] borrowed from Hindi अवतार (avtār) or from Urdu اوتار (avtār), both borrowed 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,[2] 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.[1]
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value UK is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˌæv.əˈtɑː/, /ˈæv.ə.tɑː/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value US is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈæv.ə.tɑɹ/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (AU): (file) - Hyphenation: av‧a‧tar
Noun
avatar (plural avatars)
- (Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.
- 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, 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.]
- (computing or video games) 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.
- 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.
- 2013 November 27, Roger Cohen, “The past in our future [print version: International Herald Tribune Magazine, 2013, page 21]”, 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.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
Translations
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See also
Category:Avatar on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “avatar”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Morabito, Margaret. "Enter the Online World of LucasFilm." Run Aug. 1986: 24-28
Catalan
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
avatar m (plural avatars)
Anagrams
French
Etymology
From Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) अवतार (avtār) / 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
Noun
avatar m (plural avatars)
Further reading
- “avatar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Noun
avatar m (uncountable)
- avatar (all senses)
Anagrams
Portuguese
Noun
avatar m (plural avatares)
Serbo-Croatian
Pronunciation
Noun
avàtār m (Cyrillic spelling ава̀та̄р)
Declension
Spanish
Pronunciation
Noun
avatar m (plural avatares)
- avatar
- vicissitudes, ups and downs (plural)
Further reading
- “avatar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- English terms borrowed from Hindi
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- ca:Video games
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