The ArchiMate core language defines a structure of generic elements and their relationships, which can be specialized in different layers.

A model is a collection of concepts – a concept is either an element or a relationship

An element is either a behavior element, a structure element, a motivation element, or a composite element

Note that these are abstract concepts; they are not intended to be used directly in models. To signify this, they are depicted in white with labels in italics.