primate

See also: Primate

English

WOTD – 29 March 2016

A gorilla, which is a type of primate, in Duisburg Zoo, Duisburg, Germany

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pri‧mate

Etymology 1

From French primate [1876], from Latin primas (“one of the first, chief, excellent, noble”). So named due to the belief that primates are the “highest” order of mammals/animals.

Noun

primate (plural primates)

1. (zoology) A mammal of the order Primates, including simians and prosimians.

   Primates range from lemurs to gorillas.

2. (informal) A simian anthropoid; an ape, human or monkey.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:primate

• ape
• aye-aye
• capuchin
• douroucouli
• entrina (Indri indri)
• galago

• gibbon
• great ape
• howler monkey
• human, human being
• indri (Indri indri)
• lemur
• loris

• marmoset
• monkey
• night monkey
• owl monkey
• potto
• saki
• simian

• spider monkey
• squirrel monkey
• tamarin
• tarsier
• titi
• uakari
• woolly monkey

Translations

mammal

• Afrikaans: primaat
• Armenian: պրիմատ (hy) (primat)
• Belarusian: прыма́т m (prymát)
• Bulgarian: прима́т m (primát)
• Catalan: primat m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 靈長目動物, 灵长目动物 (língzhǎngmù dòngwù), 靈長目 (zh), 灵长目动物 (língzhǎngmù)

• Czech: primát (cs) m
• Dutch: primaat (nl) m
• Finnish: kädellinen (fi)
• French: primate (fr) m
• Georgian: პრიმატი (ṗrimaṭi)
• German: Primat (de) m
• Greek: πρωτεύον n (protévon)
• Hungarian: főemlős (hu)
• Icelandic: prímati m, fremdardýr n

• Italian: primati m (plurale tantum), primate (it)
• Japanese: 霊長類 (ja) (れいちょうるい, reichōrui)
• Korean: 영장류 (yeongjangnyu)
• Lithuanian: primatas (lt) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: primat m

  Nynorsk: primat m

• Occitan: primat m
• Polish: naczelny (pl) m
• Portuguese: primata (pt) m
• Russian: прима́т (ru) m (primát)
• Slovak: primát m
• Spanish: primate (es) m
• Swedish: primat c
• Ukrainian: прима́т (uk) m (prymát)
• Vietnamese: động vật có tay, động vật linh trưởng

Etymology 2

From Middle English primate, primat, from Old French primat, from a noun use of Latin primat-, from primas, alternative form of primus (“prime, first rank”). Compare English primus, of similar derivation and meaning. [circa 1200]

Noun

primate (plural primates)

1. (ecclesiastical) In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription.
2. (ecclesiastical) In the Orthodox Church, the presiding bishop of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or region. Usually, the expression primate refers to the first hierarch of an autocephalous or autonomous Orthodox church. Less often, it is used to refer to the ruling bishop of an archdiocese or diocese.
3. (ecclesiastical) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• Primate of All England
• Primate of England
• Primate of the Gauls

• Primates
• primateship

Related terms

• primatial
• primus

Translations

archbishop or bishop

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 總主教 (zh), 总主教 (zh) (zǒngzhǔjiào)

• Dutch: primaat (nl) m
• Finnish: priimas (fi)
• French: primat (fr) m
• German: Primat (de) m, Primas (de) m
• Italian: primate (it) m

• Japanese: 大主教 (だいしゅきょう, daishukyō)
• Manx: ard-aspick m
• Maori: pīhopa mātāmua, paraimete
• Polish: prymas (pl) m
• Portuguese: primado (pt) m
• Spanish: primado (es) m
• Vietnamese: tổng giám mục (vi)

See also

• ultimate
• exarch
• patriarch

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁi.mat/

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (mammal)

See also

• primat m
• primauté
• primatie

Further reading

• “primate” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• empirât, trempai

---

Galician

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

---

Italian

Noun

primate m (plural primati)

1. primate (ecclesiastical title)

Related terms

• primati (mammals) (plurale tantum)
• primato (primacy)

Anagrams

• impetra, temprai

---

Spanish

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)