archetype

1. A primitive structural plan from which various modifications have evolved. 2. In jungian psychology, structural manifestation of the collective unconscious. SYN: imago (2). [G. archetypos, pattern, model, fr. arche, beginning, + typto, to stamp out]

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ar·che·type 'är-ki-.tīp n

1 a) a primitive generalized plan of structure deduced from the characters of a natural group of plants or animals and assumed to be the characteristic of the ancestor from which they are all descended

b) the original ancestor of a group of plants or animals

2) an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual

ar·che·typ·al .är-ki-'tī-pəl adj

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n.

(in Jungian psychology) an inherited idea or mode of thought supposed to be present in the unconscious mind and to derive from the experience of the whole human race, not from the life experience of the individual.

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ar·che·type (ahrґkə-tīp) [arche- + type] an ideal, original, or standard type or form.