Question

icon Henry Ford's assembly line captured the imagination of the world, and he and his company became icons of industrial capitalism. ˈaɪkɑn

Accepted Answer

(1) A religious image usually painted on a small wooden panel: idol. (2) Emblem, symbol. In the Eastern Orthodox church, much importance is given to icons, usually small portraits on wood—sometimes with gold-leaf paint—of Jesus, Mary, or a saint, which hang in churches and in the houses of the faithful. The Orthodox church favors icons partly because they communicate directly and forcefully even to uneducated people. They are regarded as sacred; some believers actually pray to them, and many believe that icons have carried out miracles. The common modern uses of icon grew out of this original sense. The fact that Orthodox icons have a symbolic role led to icon being used to mean simply “symbol.” Because of the icon's sacredness, the term also came to mean “idol.” And once we began to use idol to refer to pop-culture stars, it wasn't long before we began using icon the same way. But for the little computer-desktop images that you click on, the older meaning of “symbol” is the one we're thinking of.

word	icon
definition	(1) A religious image usually painted on a small wooden panel: idol. (2) Emblem, symbol.
eg_sentence	Henry Ford's assembly line captured the imagination of the world, and he and his company became icons of industrial capitalism.
explanation	In the Eastern Orthodox church, much importance is given to icons, usually small portraits on wood—sometimes with gold-leaf paint—of Jesus, Mary, or a saint, which hang in churches and in the houses of the faithful. The Orthodox church favors icons partly because they communicate directly and forcefully even to uneducated people. They are regarded as sacred; some believers actually pray to them, and many believe that icons have carried out miracles. The common modern uses of icon grew out of this original sense. The fact that Orthodox icons have a symbolic role led to icon being used to mean simply “symbol.” Because of the icon's sacredness, the term also came to mean “idol.” And once we began to use idol to refer to pop-culture stars, it wasn't long before we began using icon the same way. But for the little computer-desktop images that you click on, the older meaning of “symbol” is the one we're thinking of.
IPA	ˈaɪkɑn

Icon Orthodox Small Began Religious Image Painted Wooden