icon

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small picture on a screen that you click to open a program or file.

   Click the loudspeaker icon to change the volume.

2. 2
   noun

   A famous person or thing widely admired as the best example of something.

   She became a fashion icon known all over the world.

3. 3
   noun

   A religious painting of a saint or holy scene, often on a wooden panel.

   The church wall was covered with golden icons of the saints.

Simplified etymology

Icon comes from Greek eikōn, “likeness” or “image,” and entered English in the mid-16th century. It first denoted an image or likeness and later a portrait or devotional painting; by the early 1950s it could mean a celebrated person, and from 1982 it was used for a graphic symbol on a computer screen.

From Latin īcōn, from Ancient Greek εἰκών (eikṓn, “likeness, image, portrait”). Eastern Orthodox Church sense is attested from 1833. Computing sense first recorded in 1982.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary