Quintessential
Etymology
From Medieval Latin "quinta essentia," "fifth essence." Ancient and medieval thinkers held that beyond the four earthly elements — earth, water, air, fire — lay a fifth, purer substance composing the heavens. To be quintessential was to embody that refined essence, and the word kept the idea of the distilled, most concentrated form.
adjective · /kwin-tuh-SEN-shul/
Representing the purest, most perfect example of a type.
What it names
Stronger than "typical" — the quintessential case doesn’t just fit the category, it distills its essence, the example you would use to explain the whole kind.
Example
With its foggy streets and clanging trams, the film is the quintessential portrait of the city.
Related idea
Compare canonical: the canonical example is the officially accepted standard one, while the quintessential example is the most essence-capturing, whether or not any authority anointed it.