imago

The final developmental stage of an insect after undergoing metamorphosis.

• ‘But still,’ he said to himself, drawing the metamorphoses of a red admiral, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and imago on his pad, ‘what shall I say to him when we meet?’

An idealised concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unconsciously into adult life, the basis for the psychological formation of personality archetypes.