型(xíng) - type, model, mould in Mandarin

型 (xíng) is the bound morpheme for a type, model or category, the shape a thing is cast in. It very rarely stands alone. Instead it sits at the end of a compound and tells you which variety you are dealing with: 大型 large-scale, 小型 small-scale, 新型 new-model, 血型 blood group, 发型 hairstyle, 型号 model number.

That habit makes it enormously productive in technical and commercial language. Any product line, any classification system, any size band will reach for 型 sooner or later, so recognising it lets you decode a specification sheet you have never seen before.

The English-speaker trap is trying to use 型 as a free-standing noun meaning "type", which it is not. For "what type is it" you want 什么类型 or 哪一种, not a bare 型. Treat it the way you treat English suffixes such as "-scale" or "-grade": it needs something in front of it to mean anything.