In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to Earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being, and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation", but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation".
Usage
See Special:Whatlinkshere/Etymology:Avatar for a list of articles using this term.
This is an etymology page: a page detailing the origins of terminology used in the series in regards to real world culture and history.