English

Alternative forms

• eikon, ikon (only in sense of religious image)

Noun

icon ‎(plural icons)

A religious icon

1. An image, symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion.
2. (religion) A religious painting, often done on wooden panels.
3. A person or thing that is the best example of a certain profession or some doing.

   That man is an icon in the business; he personifies loyalty and good business sense.

4. A small picture which represents something (such as an icon on a computer screen which when clicked performs some function.)
5. (linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form reflects and is determined by the referent; onomatopoeic words are necessarily all icons. See also symbol and index.
6. Pictual representations of files, programs and folders on a computer.

Derived terms

• aniconic, aniconism
• iconism

Related terms

• iconic
• iconoclasm, iconoclast, iconoclastic
• iconify
• iconography
• iconstasis

Translations

Anagrams

• cion
• coin, COIN
• Nico

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εἰκών ‎(eikṓn, “likeness, image, portrait”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈiː.kon/, [ˈiː.kõ]

Noun

īcon f ‎(genitive īconis); third declension

1. an image
2. (later Latin): icon (religious painting)

Inflection

Third declension.

Related terms

• iconicus
• iconismus

References

• icon in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ICON in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “icon”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• icon in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016