avatāra
/əvəˈtɑːrə/
noun
Origin
Sanskrit
ava + tṛ — to cross over, to descend
Overview
Meaning Now
- In Hinduism, the material incarnation of a deity on earth, typically in a human or animal form, to restore cosmic order (dharma).
- A graphical representation of a user or character in a digital environment, such as a video game or social media platform.
Literal older meaning
descent or crossing down
Language path
Sanskrit → English
Earliest form
avatāra
Earliest period
Vedic or post-Vedic Sanskrit
Journey
The term traditionally describes the ten major incarnations (Dashavatara) of the Hindu deity Vishnu. In the 1980s, computer scientists adopted the term to describe a user's digital persona, drawing a parallel between the deity entering the mortal realm and a user entering a virtual one.
Evolution
- Vedic Sanskrit
ava-tṛ
“to descend, cross down”
Verbal root tṛ meaning to cross.
- Classical Sanskrit
avatāra
“a descent (of a god)”
Nominalization of the verbal root denoting a divine manifestation.
- Late 18th Century English
avatar
“incarnation of a deity”
Borrowed into English through colonial intellectual exchange.
- Late 20th Century English
avatar
“digital representative image”
Coined in science fiction/computing contexts.
Connections
Word parts
ava
prefix
down, off
tṛ
root
to cross, to traverse
a
suffix
forms noun from verb
Related across languages
Pali
descent
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Related to avatāra
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.