Definition of archetype

• n. - The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed.
• n. - The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted.
• n. - 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.
• n. - The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed.
• n. - The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted.
• n. - 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.