icon

Meaning

Noun

• An image, symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion.
• A type of religious painting portraying a saint or scene from Scripture, often done on wooden panels.
• A person or thing that is the best example of a certain profession or some doing.
• A small picture that represents something.
• A word, character, or sign whose form reflects and is determined by the referent; onomatopoeic words are necessarily all icons.

Origin

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