archetype

[ahr-ki-tahyp]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR archetype ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

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

Origin of archetype

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 formsar·che·typ·al, ar·che·typ·i·cal

[ahr-ki-tip-i-kuh l] /ˌɑr kɪˈtɪp ɪ kəl/, ar·che·typ·ic, adjectivear·che·typ·al·ly, ar·che·typ·i·cal·ly, adverb

Can be confusedarchetype prototype

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for archetype

paradigm, form, pattern, standard, ideal, model, prototype, original

Examples from the Web for archetype

Contemporary Examples of archetype

Your main character breaks free from the archetype of the African-American novel: David is not black.
Living Black & Gay in the ’50s
Alain Mabanckou
December 3, 2014
The calavera, or decorated skull, is an archetype of Mexican popular culture.
New Orleans’ Carnivalesque Day of the Dead
Jason Berry
November 1, 2014
Roll Royce—you would expect nothing less from such a British archetype, right?
Nationalism on Four Wheels
Clive Irving
October 18, 2014
I believe an archetype was born in those years, that of the doughty British woman—proud, opinionated, but with a heart of gold.
The Tragic, Heroic Women of World War I
Jacqueline Winspear
June 29, 2014
Every episode ended with a heartfelt PSA, every character was an archetype, and every scene presented a new teenaged dilemma.
Shailene Woodley Is Hollywood’s It Girl Next Door
Teo Bugbee
June 5, 2014

Historical Examples of archetype

With them we think of the artificial as the archetype; the earth-born as the erratic exception.
Alarms and Discursions
G. K. Chesterton
In what relation does the archetype stand to the Creator himself?
Timaeus
Plato
Such adaptations are, so to speak, grafted on the archetype.
Form and Function
E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
One program is the archetype for all the word processing that ever existed.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin
Nay, more, it is not only our mirror but our archetype for every thing.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847
Various

British Dictionary definitions for archetype

archetype

noun

a perfect or typical specimen

an original model or pattern; prototype

psychoanal one of the inherited mental images postulated by Jung as the content of the collective unconscious

a constantly recurring symbol or motif in literature, painting, etc

Word Origin for archetype

C17: from Latin archetypum an original, from Greek arkhetupon, from arkhetupos first-moulded; see arch-, type

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for archetype

"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

[är′kĭ-tīp′]

n.

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

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.imago

Related formsar′che•typ′al (-tī′pəl) null null 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 (see also symbol) that rise out of the collective unconscious and appear in dreams, mythology, and fairy tales.