paradigm (n.)

late 15c., "an example, a model," from Late Latin paradigma "pattern, example," especially in grammar, from Greek paradeigma "pattern, model; precedent, example," from paradeiknynai "exhibit, represent," literally "show side by side," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + deiknynai "to show" (cognate with Latin dicere "to show;" from PIE root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). In 20c. it began to be used in the more specific philosophical sense of "logical or conceptual structure serving as a form of thought within a given area of experience," especially in Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" (1962). Related: Paradigmatic; paradigmatical.