Avatar
Etymology
From Sanskrit avatāra (“descent”), from ava (“down”) plus the root tṛ (“to cross over”) — the descent of a deity into bodily form on earth. English took the religious sense in the eighteenth century, widened it to “an embodiment of an idea,” and in the late twentieth century applied it to the on-screen self we steer through digital space.
noun · /AV-uh-tar/
A visible embodiment or stand-in that represents someone in another realm, now especially a digital one.
What it names
The figure that acts for you where you are not — the icon, character, or body that carries your identity into a game, a forum, or a virtual world.
Example
She spent longer choosing her avatar’s jacket than she did on her actual outfit that morning.
Related idea
A persona is a social mask you present; an avatar is a concrete stand-in — a body or icon — that represents you somewhere else.