icon
Pronunciation: /ˈaɪ.kɒn/
The English word “icon” has 6 meanings listed here.
noun
- An image, symbol, picture, portrait, or other representation, usually as an object of religious devotion.
- A type of religious painting portraying a saint or scene from Scripture, often done on wooden panels.
- A person or thing that is the best example of a certain profession or some doing.
- A small picture that represents something.
- An image used to represent a user; an avatar or profile picture.
- A word, character, or sign whose form reflects and is determined by the referent; onomatopoeic words are necessarily all icons.
Etymology
From Latin īcōn, from Ancient Greek εἰκών (eikṓn, “likeness, image, portrait”). Eastern Orthodox Church sense is attested from 1833. Computing sense first recorded in 1982.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.