iconic

Pronunciation

• IPA: /aɪˈkɒnɪk/ (UK); /aɪˈkɑnɪk/, /aɪˈkɒnɪk/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin iconicus,^[2][3][4] from Greek εἰκονικός (eikonikós, “pertaining to an image”), from εἰκών (eikṓn, “likeness, image, portrait”) (see icon).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or pertaining to an image or portrait: 1656 in the OED, the 1650s in Etymonline.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In art it was applied from 1801 to memorial statues of victorious athletes and sovereigns, made in a conventional style.^[2][7] Of an image used in worship it is from 1890,^[6] and in semiotics, resembling the thing signified, from 1939.^[6] COED applies the second sense to classical Greek statues of victorious athletes.^[8]

Timeline

• 1656 – of an image.^[6]
• 1801 – of memorial statues.^[2]
• 1890 – of a sacred image.^[6]
• 1939 – in semiotics.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or having the character of an icon.
2. Of memorial statues, made in a conventional style.

Word family

• iconically

Related words

• icon
• iconography
• iconoclast

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press