Greek 'original pattern' — Plato's philosophical Forms, later adopted by Jung for the collective unconscious.
A perfect example of a type or the original model from which copies are made.
From Latin 'archetypum,' borrowed from Greek 'arkhetypon' (the original pattern, the first mold), composed of 'arkhe-' (beginning, origin, first cause, ruling principle) + 'typos' (a blow, a mark made by striking, an impression, a mold, a pattern). The element 'arkhe-' derives from 'arkhein' (to be first, to begin, to rule), connected to PIE *h2erg- (to begin, to command); the same root underlies 'architect' (arkhi + tekton, chief builder), 'archive' (Greek arkheion, a place of ruling — hence records), and 'monarchy.' The 'typos' element comes from 'typtein' (to strike),
Carl Jung adopted the term 'archetype' from Platonic philosophy for his theory of the collective unconscious — universal symbolic patterns (the Hero, the Shadow, the Mother) shared by all humans. Plato's 'ideal Form' became Jung's 'inherited psychic structure.'