archetype

UK: /ˈɑː^rkɪtaɪp/ US: /ˈɑrkɪˌtaɪp/ ,(är′ki tīp′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ar•che•type /ˈɑrkɪˌtaɪp/   n. [countable]

1. the original model from which all things of the same kind are copied.
2. the best or most complete example of something.

See -arch-, -type-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ar•che•type  (är′ki tīp′), n. 

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. Psychology (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.

• Greek archétypon a model, pattern (neuter of archétypos of the first mold, equivalent. to arche- arche- + týp(os) mold, type + -os adjective, adjectival suffix)
• Latin archetypum an original
• 1595–1605

ar•che•typ•al  (är′ki tī′pəl), ar•che•typ•i•cal  (är′ki tip′i kəl), ar′che•typ′ic, adj.  ar′che•typ′al•ly, ar′che•typ′i•cal•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

archetype, architype / ˈɑːkɪˌtaɪp/ noun

1. a perfect or typical specimen
2. an original model or pattern; prototype
3. 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

Etymology: 17th Century: from Latin archetypum an original, from Greek arkhetupon, from arkhetupos first-moulded; see arch-, type