Typifier

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual or object that serves to illustrate the essential qualities of a specific category or type
2. A representative model that encapsulates the main characteristics belonging to a certain class or group
3. A person or thing that embodies the defining traits of a particular class or group

Etymology: The word "typifier" is about as plain as English coinages get: it is "typify" with the agent suffix "-er" added, so it names a thing or person that typifies something. To typify is to be a clear example of a type, or to embody the qualities of a kind, and the verb itself comes from the Greek "typos" (blow, impression, mark), which gave us "type" in the sense of a stamped mark and later a model or pattern. The noun follows the usual English pattern of turning a verb into a person or object doing the action, as with "teacher" or "printer." Its meaning therefore runs straight from the verb: a typifier is whatever stands as the representative example of a category, the instance that shows what the category is like.

Synonyms: representative, embodiment