Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Latin
Origin: archetypum, from Greek, from archein ( ARCH-) + typos 'type'

archetype

 noun
     
ar‧che‧type [countable usually singular]
a perfect example of something, because it has all the most important qualities of things that belong to that type
archetype of
France is the archetype of the centralized nation-state.
—archetypal adjective:
Byron was the archetypal Romantic hero.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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