archetype

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Archetype

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[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin archetypum, from Greek αρχέτυπον (arkhetypon), “‘pattern, model’”) neut. of adj. αρχέτυπος (arkhetypos), “‘first-moulded’”), from αρχή (arkhe-), “‘first, origin ’”) + τύπος (typos), “‘sort, type, press’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: ˈɑːkɪtaɪp
• (US) IPA: ˈɑɹkɪtaɪp

[edit] Noun

archetype (plural archetypes)

1. An original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated; a prototype
2. (usage conflict) A person, story, concept, or object that is based on a known archetype; an archetypal character.
3. An ideal example of something; a quintessence.
4. (psychology) According to the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, a universal pattern of thought, present in an individual's unconscious, inherited from the past collective experience of humanity.

[edit] Usage notes

Traditionally archetype refers to the model upon which something is based, but it has also come to mean an example of a personality archetype, particularly a fictional character in a story based on a well-established personality model. In this fashion, a character based on the Jesus archetype might be referred to as a "Jesus archetype". See eponym for a similar usage conflict.

[edit] Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:model

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to archetype (third-person singular simple present archetypes, present participle archetyping, simple past and past participle archetyped)

1. To depict as, model using or otherwise associate a subject or object with an archetype.
   • 2003 October 31, Clyde Haberman, “NYC; Not Poifect, Dem Movies Of Brooklyn”^[1], New York Times:

     His collaborator was Robert Singer, a professor of English and film studies at Kingsborough Community College, who lamented this week that he and his fellow Brooklynites "have been archetyped to death."