Icon Word Meaning

mid 16th century (in the sense ‘simile’): via Latin from Greek eikōn ‘likeness, image’. Current senses date from the mid 19th century onwards

a devotional painting of Christ or another holy figure, typically executed on wood and used ceremonially in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches.

painting of Christ or other holy figure

a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration

person seen as representative symbol

• this iron-jawed icon of American manhood

a symbol or graphic representation on a screen of a program, option, or window.

symbol on computer screen

a sign which has a characteristic in common with the thing it signifies, for example the word snarl pronounced in a snarling way.

sign having characteristic in common with thing signified