Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Avatar |
AvatarNoun1. A new embodiment of a familiar idea; "the incarnation of evil"; "the very avatar of cunning". 2. The manifestation of a Hindu deity (especially Vishnu) in human or superhuman or animal form; "the Buddha is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "avatar" was first used: 1784. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Avatar n. Syn. [in Hindu mythology, the incarnation of a god] 1. Among people working on virtual reality and cyberspace interfaces, an "avatar" is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes used on MUDs. 2. [CMU, Tektronix] root, superuser. There are quite a few Unix machines on which the name of the superuser account is `avatar' rather than `root'. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who found the terms `root' and `superuser' unimaginative, and thought `avatar' might better impress people with the responsibility they were accepting. Source: Jargon File. |
Literature | Avatar The advent to earth of a deity in a visible form. The ten avataras of Vishnu, in Hindû mythology, are by far the most celebrated. 1st advent, in the form of a fish, 2nd, in that of a tortoise; 3rd, of a hog; 4th, of a monster, half man and half lion, to destroy the giant Iranian; 5th, in the form of a dwarf (this Avatar is called Varumna): 6th, in human form, under the name of Râma, 7th, under the same figure and name, to slay the thousand-armed giant Cartasuciriargunan; 8th, as a child named Krishna, who performed numerous miracles (this is the most memorable of all the advents); 9th, under the form of Buddha. These are all past. The 10th advent will be in the form of a white horse (Kalki) with wings, to destroy the earth. "In Vishnu land what avatar? Or who in Moscow, towards the czar?" Browning. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
see below for other meanings An Avatar (from Sanskrit avatAra) is a descended form of Hindu god.
The two main avatars of Vishnu that appear in the epics are Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, and Krishna, the friend of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata. Unlike the superhuman devas (demigods) of the Vedic Samhitas and the abstract Upanishadic concept of the all-pervading and formless Brahman, the avatars in these epics are the original forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Who is in control of demigods and Whose transcendental body produces the impersonal Brahman effulgence.
Even Lord Buddha, Who is the source of Buddhism is actually an avatar of Vishnu.
Although the avataras of God are unlimited in number, ten prominent avatars are:
Usage (by analogy with the above) in hacker culture:
1. Among people working on virtual reality and cyberspace interfaces, an avatar is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes used on MUDs, and also in computer role-playing games.
2. [CMU, Tektronix] root, superuser. There are quite a few Unix machines on which the name of the superuser account is 'avatar' rather than 'root'. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who found the terms 'root' and 'superuser' unimaginative, and thought 'avatar' might better impress people with the responsibility they were accepting.
Source: the public domain Jargon file The Avatar is also the main (player) character in the Ultima series of games. He (or she) is not an embodiment of a god, but of a set of ethic guidelines called the Virtues.
Distinguish also the use of the word Avatar to refer to Harry Palmer's self-development system.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Avatar."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
avatar | English | Advanced Video Attribute Terminal Assembler | Computing |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: AvatarSynonyms: embodiment (n), incarnation (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Change | Transformation, transfiguration; metamorphosis; transmutation; deoxidization; transubstantiation; mutagenesis, transanimation, transmigration, metempsychosis; avatar; alterative. |
Deity | Eon, aeon, special providence, deus ex machina; avatar. |
Idolatry | Idol, golden calf, graven image, fetich, avatar, Juggernath, lares et penates; Baal. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Avatar |
| English words defined with "avatar": embodiment ♦ incarnation ♦ Jagannath, Jagannatha, Jagganath, juggernaut ♦ Krishna, Krishnaism ♦ Rama. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "avatar": Boar's Flesh ♦ frag ♦ toor. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Avatar" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (avatar), French (avatar, failure, flop), Serbo-Croatian (avatar), Spanish (avatar). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | An avatar unencumbered by cleavage? (Andromeda; writing credit: John Cranna) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Avatar (1941) Mohini Avatar (1926) Ram Avatar (1988) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
High Tech |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Avatar" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Avatar" is used about 5 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 5 | 157,705 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| USA | Avatar Holdings Inc. |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
avatar | 3,071 | avatar search | 21 |
avatar chat | 156 | avatar home | 20 |
avatar image | 107 | avatar download | 20 |
avatar picture | 85 | free avatar chat | 18 |
avatar free | 84 | avatar make | 18 |
avatar gallery | 78 | avatar free gifs | 18 |
avatar pic | 61 | avatar gif | 15 |
avatar doll | 60 | avatar lab | 15 |
anime avatar | 60 | avatar studio | 14 |
animated avatar | 46 | 3d avatar | 14 |
avatar palace | 45 | avatar 3d chat | 14 |
avatar maker | 36 | avatar create | 14 |
avatar downloads | 33 | avatar press | 13 |
avatar forum | 32 | avatar kenshin | 12 |
vp avatar | 30 | avatar collection | 12 |
avatar icon | 26 | avatar msn | 12 |
avatar mud | 25 | dc shoes avatar | 11 |
avatar free image | 24 | avatar web promotion | 11 |
avatar speaker | 24 | avatar dc | 11 |
avatar chat rooms | 24 | avatar site | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "avatar"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | mishërimi i hyjnisë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | تجسد فكرة أو فلسفة, تجسد الآلهة فى الفلسفة. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | фаза (leg, phase, quarter, stage), въплъщение на божество, въплъщение (epitome, impersonation, incarnation, personation, personification, picture), проява (display, exhibition, manifestation, performance, piece, procedure, proceeding, show). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | avatar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | avatar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Offenbarung (apocalypse, apparentness, disclosure, manifestation, revelation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | megtestesülés (embodiment, impersonation, incarnation, personification). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 権現 (incarnation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ""'" (incarnation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | avataray воплощение (embodiment, entailment, incarnation, objectification, personation, personification, picture). (various references) avatar, hindu božanstvo. (various references) avatar, vicisitud (vicissitude), manifestación (demo, demonstration, display, manifestation, picket, profession, protest march, rally, showing). (various references) sự hoá thân, Ân. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sanskrit | 300 BCE-Modern | avatarana. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "avatar": avatars. (additional references) | |
| |
"Avatar" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aata, Abakar, abatar, Akabar, Alvastra, ataatga, atavar, avana, avat, avatart, avate, avator, Avesta, Aveyard, Avishai, Avital, avitar, Aviti, Avostar, avtur, azahari, Cavator, evatar, Javetta, Kafadar, Navaar, Pavitra. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-a-r-t-v" | |
-2 letters: vara. | |
-3 letters: art, ava, rat, tar, tav, var, vat. | |
-4 letters: aa, ar, at, ta. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-a-r-t-v" | |
+1 letter: avatars. | |
+3 letters: aggravate. | |
+4 letters: aggravated, aggravates, margravate, ultravacua. | |
+5 letters: aggravating, aggravation, extravagant, extravagate, extravasate, margravates, margraviate, variational. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Company Usage | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Abbreviations | 13. Acronyms 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
