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εἰκών

Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word εἰκών

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
6th–5th century BC, Aeschylus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (ἔοικα)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /eː.kɔ̌ːn/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /iˈkon/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /iˈkon/[1]

Forms

εἰκών (eikṓn) f (genitive εἰκόνος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed with the suffix -ών from the root of ἔοικα (éoika, “to be like”), as an agent noun, with the same vowel as εἰκώς (eikṓs) and εἴκελος (eíkelos, “like”).[2][3] Cypriot inscriptions write it with initial ⟨ϝ⟩, and Ionic and poetic Greek also have forms as if from a nominative εἰκώ (eikṓ).[2][4]

Beekes traces the root to Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to resemble”).[2] Wiktionary notes that it has no certain cognates outside Greek, and that the sense “resemble” may be a Greek development of a root meaning “bend, exchange”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 6th–5th century BC, in Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes and an epigram of Simonides.[5][6] Herodotus uses it for statues, such as those of the concubines of Mycerinus in Egypt.[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Classical Greek used it for any likeness, a statue, a painting or a woven figure, and for a reflection in a mirror or in water (Euripides, Plato).[7][4] Euripides uses it for a phantom.[7] In argument it was a comparison or analogy, and Aristotle uses it for a simile as opposed to a metaphor.[7] Plato's Timaeus ends by calling the cosmos a perceptible god, an image of the intelligible.[4]

Ptolemaic documents use it for a written description of a person, and the Rosetta decree calls the king “a living image of Zeus”.[4] In the Bible humans are made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26), and the New Testament calls Christ the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15); it also uses it for the emperor's head on a coin.[8][9]

In Byzantine Greek it became the icon, the painted holy image.[1] Medieval Greek used εικόνα for a painting and a likeness,[10] and the modern form is Modern Greek εικόνα (eikóna).[1] Through Late Latin īcōn it gave English icon in the 1570s.[11][1]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus and Simonides use it.[5][6]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for statues;[6] Euripides for a reflection and a phantom.[6][7]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a simile.[7][6]
  • 2nd century BC – The Rosetta decree calls the king a living image of Zeus.[4]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament calls Christ the image of God.[9]
  • Byzantine – It means a holy icon.[1]
  • 1570s – English borrows icon through Late Latin.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A likeness, image: a statue, painting or portrait.[4][7]
  2. An image in a mirror, a reflection.[4][7]
  3. A phantom, semblance; an image in the mind.[4][7]
  4. A comparison, analogy;[7] (rhetoric) a simile.[7]
  5. A living image, representation;[4] (New Testament) of Christ as the image of God.[4][9]
  6. (papyri) A personal description.[4]
  7. (Byzantine) An icon.[1]

Word family

  • εἰκονογράφος (eikonográphos)
  • εἰκάζω (eikázō)
  • εἰκώς (eikṓs)
  • ἴσκω (ískō)
  • Latin īcōn
  • English icon

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Εἰκών.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%B5%E1%BC%B0%CE%BA%CF%8E%CE%BD. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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