Plural of arche; in Greek philosophy, the fundamental substances or principles from which all things originate.
From ancient Greek 'arche' (beginning, origin, principle), referring to the first principles that pre-Socratic philosophers like Thales believed made up all reality (water, air, atoms, etc.).
Ancient Greek philosophers were obsessed with archai—Thales said everything was made of water, Anaximander said air, but they were all trying to answer the question humans still ask: what's the simplest thing everything is made from?
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