Archetype vs. Type — What's the Difference?

The concept of an archetype (; from Greek: ἄρχω, árkhō, 'to begin' + τῠ́πος, túpos, 'sort, type') appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be: a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that other statements, patterns of behavior, and objects copy, emulate, or "merge" into.

A category of people or things having common characteristics

A very typical example of a certain person or thing

A person or thing exemplifying the ideal or defining characteristics of something

(in Jungian theory) a primitive mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors, and supposed to be present in the collective unconscious.

Characters or letters that are printed or shown on a screen

A recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology

A design on either side of a medal or coin.

An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype

An abstract category or class of linguistic item or unit, as distinct from actual occurrences in speech or writing.

An ideal example of a type; quintessence

Write (something) on a typewriter or computer by pressing the keys

In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.

Determine the type to which (a person or their blood or tissue) belongs

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

A number of people or things having in common traits or characteristics that distinguish them as a group or class:That type of car was popular in the 1970s. See Synonyms at kind.

An ideal example of something; a quintessence.

A person or thing having the features of a group or class:He is the type of person that is bound to get into trouble.

(literature) A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story.

An example or a model having the ideal features of a group or class; an embodiment:"He was the perfect type of a military dandy"(Joyce Cary).

(psychology) 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.

A person regarded as exemplifying a particular profession, rank, or social group:a group of executive types; a restaurant frequented by tourist types.

(textual criticism) A original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive.

A figure, representation, or symbol of something to come, such as an event in the Old Testament that is believed to foreshadow another in the New Testament.

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

(Biology)The type specimen, type species, or type genus, which serves as the basis for the name of a species, genus, or family.

The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed.

A small block of metal or wood bearing a raised letter or character on the upper end that leaves a printed impression when inked and pressed on paper.

The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted.

Such pieces considered as a group.

The plan or fundamental structure on which a natural group of animals or plants or their systems of organs are assumed to have been constructed; as, the vertebrate archetype.

Printed or typewritten characters; print:Let's see how your letter looks in type.

An original model on which something is patterned

A size or style of printed or typewritten characters; a typeface:a sans-serif type.

A pattern, a design, or an image impressed or stamped onto the face of a coin.

To write (something) using a typewriter.

To input (something) manually on an electronic device, especially by using a keyboard.

To assign to a category; classify or characterize:a political candidate who was typed as indecisive.

To determine the antigenic characteristics of (a blood or tissue sample).

To typecast:an actor afraid of being typed as a gangster.

To write with a typewriter or computer keyboard.

A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.

An individual considered typical of its class, one regarded as typifying a certain profession, environment, etc.

An individual that represents the ideal for its class; an embodiment.

A letter or character used for printing, historically a cast or engraved block.

(uncountable) Such types collectively, or a set of type of one font or size.

Text printed with such type, or imitating its characteristics.

(taxonomy) Something, often a specimen, selected as an objective anchor to connect a scientific name to a taxon; this need not be representative or typical.

Preferred sort of person; sort of person that one is attracted to.

(medicine) A blood group.

(corpus linguistics) A word that occurs in a text or corpus irrespective of how many times it occurs, as opposed to a token.

(theology) An event or person that prefigures or foreshadows a later event - commonly an Old Testament event linked to Christian times.

(computing theory) A tag attached to variables and values used in determining which kinds of value can be used in which situations; a data type.

(fine arts) The original object, or class of objects, scene, face, or conception, which becomes the subject of a copy; especially, the design on the face of a medal or a coin.

(chemistry) A simple compound, used as a mode or pattern to which other compounds are conveniently regarded as being related, and from which they may be actually or theoretically derived.

(mathematics) A part of the partition of the object domain of a logical theory (which due to the existence of such partition, would be called a typed theory). (Note: this corresponds to the notion of "data type" in computing theory.)

A symbol, emblem, or example of something.

To put text on paper using a typewriter.

To enter text or commands into a computer using a keyboard.

To determine the blood type of.

To represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure.

To furnish an expression or copy of; to represent; to typify.

To categorize into types.

The mark or impression of something; stamp; impressed sign; emblem.

Form or character impressed; style; semblance.

A figure or representation of something to come; a token; a sign; a symbol; - correlative to antitype.

That which possesses or exemplifies characteristic qualities; the representative.

The original object, or class of objects, scene, face, or conception, which becomes the subject of a copy; esp., the design on the face of a medal or a coin.

A raised letter, figure, accent, or other character, cast in metal or cut in wood, used in printing.

A simple compound, used as a model or pattern to which other compounds are conveniently regarded as being related, and from which they may be actually or theoretically derived.

To represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure.

To furnish an expression or copy of; to represent; to typify.

A subdivision of a particular kind of thing;

A person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities);

(biology) the taxonomic group whose characteristics are used to define the next higher taxon

Printed characters;

A small metal block bearing a raised character on one end; produces a printed character when inked and pressed on paper;

All of the tokens of the same symbol;

Write by means of a keyboard with types;

Identify as belonging to a certain type;