神降下來，穿上身體
這是核心畫面最原始的樣子，也是這個字進入英文時帶著的意思。
noun · C1
A god who has come down to earth in the body of a person or an animal. In Hindu belief the word is used especially of Vishnu, who is said to appear on earth in many such forms.
化身（神的降世）
核心畫面
One way to hold this word: something comes down from a higher place and puts on a body so it can be seen and met here. The real thing stays where it was. What arrives is a shape it can wear — a fish, a king, a person in a green jacket. Whoever meets that shape is really meeting the thing behind it. Every use of avatar keeps this two-layer picture: a being in one place, and a visible form of it standing somewhere else.
這個字可以想成：有個東西從上面降下來，穿上一個身體，好讓這裡的人看得見它、碰得到它。真正的本體沒有搬家，它還在原來的…更多收起
這個字可以想成：有個東西從上面降下來，穿上一個身體，好讓這裡的人看得見它、碰得到它。真正的本體沒有搬家，它還在原來的地方。降下來的只是它可以穿的一個形狀——可能是一條魚，一位國王，或是一個穿綠外套的小人。而跟那個形狀說話的人，其實是在跟後面的本體打交道。avatar 每一種用法都保留這個兩層的畫面：本體在一處，看得見的形體在另一處。差別只在於本體是神、是一個概念，還是螢幕前的你。From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces avatar to Sanskrit avatāra, 'descent of a deity from a heaven', built from ava ('off, away, down') and the root tṝ ('to cross'). It came into English through Hindustani avtār and is first attested around 1784.
來源資料把 avatar 追到梵文 avatāra，意思是「神從天上降下來」。它由 ava（往下、離開）和字根 tṝ（越過）組成。這個字經由印度斯坦語的 avtār 進入英文，最早的紀錄大約在 1784 年。「往下越過」這個畫面，正好就是核心意象裡「從上面降到這裡、穿上一個看得見的身體」。
Wiktionary entry for 'avatar' (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:18506800:65503), etymology_text field
Three branches
抽象的東西找到人形
一樣是「看不見的東西變成看得見的身體」，只是降下來的不是神，而是一種特質或一個時代的情緒。
noun · C2
A person who is seen as the living form of an idea or a quality — someone in whom that idea seems to have taken a human shape.
典型代表／化身
你在螢幕裡的那個身體
這一支把降下來的那一方換成你自己：人坐在螢幕前，形體在裡面。
noun · B1
A picture or figure on a screen that stands for you online — either the small image on your profile, or the person or animal you move around in a game or a virtual world.
頭像／虛擬化身