archetypes

noun

  1. An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned; a prototype.

  2. An ideal example of something; a quintessence.

  3. A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story.

  4. According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung: a universal pattern of thought, present in an individual's unconscious, inherited from the past collective experience of humanity.

  5. (textual criticism) A protograph.

verb

  1. To depict as, model using, or otherwise associate an object or subject with an archetype.