PROTOTYPE

noun Etymology: French, from Greek prōtotypon, from neuter of prōtotypos archetypal, from prōt- + typos type Date: 1552 an original model on which something is patterned ; archetype , an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type, a standard or typical example, a first full-scale and usually functional form of a new type or design of a construction (as an airplane)