Ar"che*type (är"k&esl;*tīp), n. [L. archetypum, Gr. 'arche`typon, fr. 'arche`typos stamped first and as model; 'arche = 'archi + ty`pos stamp, figure, pattern, ty`ptein to strike: cf. F. archétype. See Arch- , pref.] 1. The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed.

The House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet.
Macaulay.

Types and shadows of that glorious archetype that was to come into the world.
South.

2. (Coinage) The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted.

3. (Biol.) The plan or fundamental structure on which a natural group of animals or plants or their systems of organs are assumed to have been constructed; as, the vertebrate archetype.

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