archetype: Meaning and Definition of

ar•che•type

Pronunciation: (är'ki-tīp"), [key]
— 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. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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