"original pattern from which copies are made," 1540s, from L. archetypum, from Gk. arkhetypon "pattern, model," neut. of adj. arkhetypos "first-moulded," from arkhe- "first" (see archon) + typos "model, type, blow, mark of a blow." Jungian psychology sense of "pervasive idea or image from the collective unconscious" is from 1919.