Icon
Etymology
From Greek “eikōn” (image, likeness, portrait). In Eastern Orthodox Christianity an icon is a sacred painting venerated as a window onto the divine — honored, its defenders insist, not worshipped. The word then traveled remarkably far: to the small pictorial symbols of a computer interface, and to the cultural “icon,” a person who has come to stand for something larger.
noun · /EYE-kon/
A sacred image venerated as a window to the holy — or, now, any emblematic symbol or figure.
What it names
An image that points beyond itself, a lineage running from religious art to the little symbols on a screen.
Example
The photograph became an icon of the era, a single frame everyone read the whole decade into.
Related idea
An idol is condemned for being worshipped as the sacred thing itself; an icon is defended as a transparent window that directs veneration through the image to what lies beyond it.
noun · /EYE-kon/
A small picture or symbol on a screen that represents a program, file, or function.
What it names
the clickable graphic in a user interface.
Example
Tap the gear icon to open settings.
Related idea
The sacred image shrunk to a functional pictogram — still an image standing for something beyond itself.
See also