icon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈaɪ.kɒn/, /ˈaɪ.kən/ (UK); /ˈaɪ.kɑn/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin icon,^[2][3] from Greek εἰκών (eikṓn, “likeness, image, portrait”),^[2][3][4] related to ἔοικα (eíkenai, “to be like”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An image, figure or picture: 1572 in the OED and MWU, the 1570s in Etymonline.^[6][5][2] NODE gives the first sense as a simile.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A statue is from 1577–87,^[6] and in rhetoric a simile, a figure of speech comparing two things, from 1589.^[6][4] Word Origins notes it later meant a portrait, especially an illustration in a natural history book.^[4] A devotional painting of a holy figure in the Eastern Church is attested from 1833, not before the mid-19th century.^[2][6][4] A celebrated figure such as a sports or pop star, a symbol of something, dates from the early 1950s,^[4] and the small picture on a computer screen representing a program or file is recorded by 1982.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1572 – an image.^[6]
• 1589 – a simile (obsolete).^[6]
• 1833 – an Eastern Church icon.^[2][6]
• early 1950s – a celebrated figure.^[4]
• 1982 – a computer icon.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A painting of Christ or a saint, especially in the Orthodox Church, venerated as sacred.
2. A person or thing regarded as a symbol of something: a fashion icon.
3. (computing) A small picture on a screen representing a program, file or function.
4. An image or representation.

Word family

• iconic
• iconically
• emoticon
• iconology

Related words

• aniconic
• aniconism
• iconicity
• icono-
• iconoclasm
• iconoclast
• iconographer
• iconographic
• iconography
• iconolatry
• iconophile
• iconoscope
• iconostasis

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press