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Contents
avatar definition
Overview
This page has 26 definitions of avatar with English translations in 10 languages. Avatar is a noun. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .
English avatar definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
Attested 1784,[1] 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,[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 the 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.[1]
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)
- (Hinduism) An incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- The embodiment of an idea or concept; an instantiation, especially a personification or incarnation.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in 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, 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, 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.
- (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
Descendants
- → Japanese: アバター
Translations
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See also
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Avatar on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “avatar”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Morabito, Margaret. "Enter the Online World of LucasFilm." Run Aug. 1986: 24-28
Catalan avatar definition
Etymology
Borrowed from English, from Sanskrit.
Pronunciation
Noun
avatar m (plural avatars)
Anagrams
Finnish avatar definition
Etymology
From English avatar, from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra).
Pronunciation
Noun
avatar
- avatar (earthly incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu)
- (rare) avatar (physical embodiment of an idea or concept)
- Synonym: ruumiillistuma
- (rare) avatar (digital representation of a person or being)
- Synonyms: hahmo, virtuaalihahmo
Declension
Inflection of avatar (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation) | ||||
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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 | ||
abessive | avataritta | avatareitta | ||
instructive | — | avatarein | ||
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Possessive forms of avatar (type risti) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Further reading
- "avatar" in Kielitoimiston sanakirja (Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish).
French avatar definition
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
Noun
avatar m (plural avatars)
Further reading
- “avatar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Indonesian avatar definition
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
Noun
avatar
- avatar,
- (Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- Synonym: awatara
- (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.
- (Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
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 avatar definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English avatar.
Noun
avatar m (invariable)
- avatar (all senses)
Anagrams
Portuguese avatar definition
Etymology
Borrowed from French avatar, from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”).[1][2] The computing sense comes from English.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar
Noun
avatar m (plural avatares)
References
- ^ “avatar” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2023.
- ^ “avatar” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
Romanian avatar definition
Etymology
Noun
avatar n (plural avataruri)
Declension
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 avatar definition
Pronunciation
Noun
avàtār m (Cyrillic spelling ава̀та̄р)
Declension
Spanish avatar definition
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
avatar m (plural avatares)
- avatar
- (in the plural) vicissitudes, ups and downs
Further reading
- “avatar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014