the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.

(in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.

adjective

archetypal , archetypical , classic , classical , model , paradigmatic , prototypal , prototypic , prototypical , quintessential , representative , typic