Avatar

How to spell avatar

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce avatar

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does avatar mean?

1. nounA graphical figure or icon that represents a person in a video game, online forum, or virtual world.
2. nounIn Hindu belief, the descent or earthly incarnation of a deity.

Avatar in a sentence

• She customised her avatar with a new hairstyle before joining the game.

• The lecture explained that Krishna is regarded as an avatar of Vishnu.

• His forum profile showed a cartoon avatar instead of a real photo.

• The museum exhibit traced each avatar of the deity across ancient texts.

Where does avatar come from?

Language of origin: Sanskrit

The word comes from the Sanskrit avatāra, which literally meant 'descent' and was built from ava, meaning 'down', and the verbal root tṛ, meaning 'to cross over' or 'to pass'. In Hindu tradition it named the descent of a deity from heaven to earth, especially the appearances of the god Vishnu in earthly forms such as Rama or Krishna. English borrowed the word in the late 1700s through the writings of scholars and travellers describing Indian religion. Over the twentieth century it broadened into general use for any embodiment or visible manifestation of an idea or person. With the rise of computing in the 1980s and 1990s it took on its now-familiar meaning of a graphical figure that represents a user online, a fitting modern echo of a divine being taking on a visible form. The spelling stays close to the Sanskrit, which is why it ends in a plain -tar rather than the -ter many English speakers expect.

How the word is built

• ava- (down, from Sanskrit ava)
• -tar (crossing over, from the root tṛ 'to cross'); together 'a descent' or 'crossing down'