• Avatar

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˌæv.əˈtÉ‘/, /ˈæv.É™.tÉ‘/
    • US IPA: /ˈæv.É™.tɑɹ/
    • Hyphenation: av + a + tar

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    1784,

    from Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) अवतार
    اوتار, 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 तरति (√tṝ, "to cross").

    In computing use, saw some use in 1980s videos games – 1985 online role-playing game Habitat (video game) by Lucasfilm Games (today LucasArts), by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer,

    Morabito, Margaret. "Enter the Online World of LucasFilm." Run Aug. 1986: 24-28

    later versions of the Ultima (video game series) 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.

    Online Etymology Dictionary

    Full definition of avatar

    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.
    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 CrashThe people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.
      • 27 November 2013, Roger Cohen, The past in our future [print version: International Herald Tribune Magazine, 2013, p. 21], 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.
    © Wiktionary