icon

noun

1. a picture, image, or other representation.
2. Eastern Church. a representation of some sacred personage, as Christ or a saint or angel, painted usually on a wood surface and venerated itself as sacred.
3. a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it: an icon of womanhood.
4. a person or thing that is revered or idolized: Elvis Presley is a cultural icon of the 20th century.
5. Computers. a picture or symbol that appears on a monitor and is used to represent a command, as a file drawer to represent filing.
6. Semiotics. a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it.

1. a combining form meaning “image,” “likeness,” used in the formation of compound words: iconology.

noun

1. Also: ikon a representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint, esp one painted in oil on a wooden panel, depicted in a traditional Byzantine style and venerated in the Eastern Church
2. an image, picture, representation, etc
3. a person or thing regarded as a symbol of a belief, nation, community, or cultural movement
4. a person regarded as a sex symbol or as a symbol of the latest fashion trends
5. a pictorial representation of a facility available on a computer system, that enables the facility to be activated by means of a screen cursor rather than by a textual instruction

combining form

1. indicating an image or likenessiconology

n.

also ikon, 1570s, “image, figure, representation,” from Late Latin icon, from Greek eikon “likeness, image, portrait,” related to eikenai “be like, look like,” of unknown origin. Eastern Church sense is attested from 1833. Computing sense first recorded 1982.

1. In a graphical user interface, a picture on the screen that represents a specific file, directory, window, or program. Clicking on an icon will start the associated program or open the associated file, directory, or window.

An image used in worship in the Eastern Orthodox Church and among other Christians (see also Christian) of similar traditions. Icons depict Jesus, Mary, and the saints, usually in a severe, symbolic, nonrealistic way.