primitive
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- primative (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Old French primitif, from Latin prīmitīvus (“first or earliest of its kind”), from prīmus (“first”); see prime. Doublet of primitivo.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
primitive (plural primitives)
- (linguistics) An original or primary word; a word not derived from another, as opposed to derivative.
- A member of a primitive society.
- A simple-minded person.
- (computing, programming) A data type that is built into the programming language, as opposed to more complex structures.
- (computing, programming) Any of the simplest elements (instructions, statements, etc.) available in a programming language[1].
- A basic geometric shape from which more complex shapes can be constructed.
- (mathematics) A function whose derivative is a given function; an antiderivative.
SynonymsEdit
- word: primitive word, radical, radical word
TranslationsEdit
word not derived from another
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person from a primitive society
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simple-minded person
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computing data type
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
AdjectiveEdit
primitive (comparative more primitive, superlative most primitive)
- Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first.
- primitive innocence; the primitive church
- Of or pertaining to or harking back to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity.
- Synonym: backwards
- a primitive style of dress
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest[1]:
- By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
- (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) Crude, obsolete.
- primitive ideas
- (grammar) Original; primary; radical; not derived.
- Synonym: radical
- Antonyms: derivative, derived
- a primitive verb
- 1831, Noah Webster, Rudiments of English Grammar; Being an Abridgment of the Improved Grammar of the English Language, New-Haven, p.6:
- Division of words. Words are primitive or radical, and derivative or compound.
- Of primitive words. Primitive or radical words are such as cannot be divided, or separated into parts which are significant; as man, hope, bless.
- (biology) Occurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution.
- (mathematics) Not derived from another of the same type
- Synonym: imprimitive
- (linguistics, dated) most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of
- Synonym: proto-
- 1933, Leonard Bloomfield, Language, Henry Holt, p. 13
- We infer that other groups of related languages, such as the Germanic (or the Slavic or the Celtic), which show a similar resemblance, have arisen in the same way; it is only an accident of history that for these groups we have no written records of the earlier state of the language, as it was spoken before the differentiation set in. To these unrecorded languages we give names like Primitive Germanic (Primitive Slavic, Primitive Celtic, and so on).
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
one of the adjectival senses
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ReferencesEdit
FrenchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
See the etymology of the main entry.
AdjectiveEdit
primitive
Etymology 2Edit
By ellipsis of [fonction] primitive.
NounEdit
primitive f (plural primitives)
- (mathematics) antiderivative
- Antonym: dérivée
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “primitive” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
GermanEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
AdjectiveEdit
primitive
- inflection of primitiv:
ItalianEdit
AdjectiveEdit
primitive
LatinEdit
AdjectiveEdit
prīmitīve
Norwegian BokmålEdit
AdjectiveEdit
primitive
Norwegian NynorskEdit
AdjectiveEdit
primitive