archetype
ar·che·type/ˈɑɹkɪtaɪp/noun, verb
archetype is spelled A-R-C-H-E-T-Y-P-E, 3 syllables: ar·che·type. The wrong spelling people search most is archtype: about 180 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 18 of all searches for the word. Archetype is a noun meaning “An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative…”. The plural of archetype is archetypes.
How many letters and syllables are in archetype?
| Letters | 9: A-R-C-H-E-T-Y-P-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ar·che·type |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, archtype, about 180 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell archetype?
Archetype is spelled A-R-C-H-E-T-Y-P-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for archetype in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is archetype?
Archetype appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce archetype?
- UK /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/
- US /ˈɑɹkɪtaɪp/
Archetype has 3 syllables, split ar·che·type in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-archetype.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of archetype
- archetypes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- archetyping participle, present
- archetyped participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does archetype mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned.
Near-synonym: prototype (sometimes synonymous)
- 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
A protograph (“original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive”).
verb
- 1
To depict as, model using, or otherwise associate an object or subject with an archetype.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Archetype in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are mere:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | archétype |
| German | Urbild, Prototyp, Archetyp |
| Portuguese | arquétipo |
| Spanish | arquetipo, exponente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does archetype come from?
From Old French architipe (modern French archétype), from Latin archetypum (“original”), from Ancient Greek ἀρχέτυπον (arkhétupon, “model, pattern”), the neuter form of ἀρχέτυπος (arkhétupos, “first-moulded”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”) (from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to lead, rule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin; to command, rule”)) + τῠ́πος (tŭ́pos, “blow, pressing; sort, type”) (from τύπτω (túptō, “to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push; to stick”)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).