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archetype

[ahr-ki-tahyp]

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:
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

ar·che·typ·al, ar·che·typ·i·cal

[ahr-ki-tip-i-kuh

l] , ar·che·typ·ic, adjective

ar·che·typ·al·ly, ar·che·typ·i·cal·ly, adverb

Can be confused: archetype, prototype.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Archetype is a TOEFL word you need to know.

So is cynic. Does it mean:

capable of being done, probable

a person who believes that only selfishness motivates people and who disbelieves in selfless acts or disinterested points of view

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Example Sentences

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.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

archetype (ˈɑːkɪˌtaɪp)

—n
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

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

archetype

"original pattern from which copies are made," 1540s, from L. archetypum, from Gk. arkhetypon "pattern, model," neut. of adj. arkhetypos "first-moulded," from arkhe- "first" (see archon) + typos "model, type, blow, mark of a blow." Jungian psychology sense of "pervasive idea

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or image from the collective unconscious" is from 1919.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

archetype ar·che·type (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. 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.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

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.

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Related Words

arche- collective unconscious

Dracula idea

Matching Quote

"The exercise of letters is sometimes linked to the ambition to contruct an absolute book, a book of books that includes the others like a Platonic archetype, an object whose virtues are not diminished by the passage of time."

-Jorge Luis Borges

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