archetype

[ahr-ki-tahyp] /ˈɑr kɪˌtaɪp/
noun
1.
the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
2.
(in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
Origin
1595-1605; < Latin archetypum an original < Greek archétypon a model, pattern (neuter of archétypos of the first mold, equivalent to arche- arche- + týp(os) mold, type + -os adj. suffix)
Related forms
archetypal, archetypical
[ahr-ki-tip-i-kuh l] /ˌɑr kɪˈtɪp ɪ kəl/ (Show IPA), archetypic, adjective
archetypally, archetypically, adverb
Can be confused
archetype, prototype.
Examples from the web for archetype
  • It is difficult to establish any archetype for failure from the past two years.
  • The emperor himself was an archetype of what the modern world calls a constitutional monarch: he reigned but did not govern.
  • Short-term electricity is the very archetype of an extremely inelastic good.
  • Inventors have played an occasional starring role, too, Gutenberg being the archetype.
  • It is the archetype of a state.
  • It makes you think of one of his sculptures, cool and smooth and almost entirely white — a pure archetype of a boat.
  • However, every archetype of gym-goer that bothers me on some deep level was there this morning.
  • The literary archetype is easy to identify here.
  • It was a very funny take-off of the powerful but none-too-bright barbarian archetype.
  • The roamer who would make himself and his land anew is a familiar archetype.
British Dictionary definitions for archetype

archetype

/ˈɑːkɪˌtaɪp/
noun
1.
a perfect or typical specimen
2.
an original model or pattern; prototype
3.
(psychoanal) one of the inherited mental images postulated by Jung as the content of the collective unconscious
4.
a constantly recurring symbol or motif in literature, painting, etc
Word Origin
C17: from Latin archetypum an original, from Greek arkhetupon, from arkhetupos first-moulded; see arch-, type
Word Origin and History for archetype
n.

"original pattern from which copies are made," 1540s, from Latin archetypum, from Greek arkhetypon "pattern, model, figure on a seal," neuter of adjective arkhetypos "first-moulded," from arkhe- "first" (see archon) + typos "model, type, blow, mark of a blow" (see type). Jungian psychology sense of "pervasive idea or image from the collective unconscious" is from 1919.

archetype in Medicine

archetype ar·che·type (är'kĭ-tīp')
n.

  1. An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned.

  2. In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic image that is derived from the past collective experience of humanity and is present in the unconscious of the individual. Also called imago.

ar'che·typ'al (-tī'pəl) or ar'che·typ'ic (-tĭp'ĭk) or ar'che·typ'i·cal adj.
ar'che·typ'i·cal·ly adv.
archetype in Culture
archetype [(ahr-ki-teyep)]

An original model after which other similar things are patterned. In the psychology of Carl Jung, archetypes are the images, patterns, and symbols that rise out of the collective unconscious and appear in dreams, mythology, and fairy tales.