primordial

[ prahy-mawr-dee-uhl ]

adjective

1. constituting a beginning; giving origin to something derived or developed; original; elementary:

   primordial forms of life.

2. Embryology. first formed.
3. pertaining to or existing at or from the very beginning:

   primordial matter.

primordial

/ praɪˈmɔːdɪəl /

adjective

1. existing at or from the beginning; earliest; primeval
2. constituting an origin; fundamental
3. biology of or relating to an early stage of development

   primordial germ cells

noun

1. an elementary or basic principle

Derived Forms

• priˈmordially, adverb
• priˌmordiˈality, noun

Other Words From

• pri·mor·di·al·i·ty [prahy-mawr-dee-, al, -i-tee], noun
• pri·mordi·al·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of primordial¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin prīmōrdiālis of the beginning. See primordium, -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of primordial¹

C14: from Late Latin prīmōrdiālis original, from Latin prīmus first + ōrdīrī to begin

Example Sentences

Which means we might not only find life on Mars but a form of life older and more primordial than any previously observed on Earth.

From Vox

Chunks that, individually, are mere specks in the cloud of millions of such primordial planetary leftovers circling our sun.

From Nautilus

These conditions were driven by large amounts of internal “primordial heat.”

From Singularity Hub 

Researchers have since tested most aspects of the equations by replicating the primordial nuclear reactions in laboratories.

From Quanta Magazine

If true, it would be the first window physicists have opened onto those primordial phase transitions.

From Quanta Magazine

Sliding around beneath the surface of Los Angeles is something dark, primordial, and without form.

From The Daily Beast

What humans choose to do with this shapeless primordial stuff leaking through the cracks can often be almost comical.

From The Daily Beast

He is rather drawn to figures in pain, to the primordial, and to gloom.

From The Daily Beast

One predicted side effect of inflation is primordial gravitational waves: twisty ripples in the structure of the Universe.

From The Daily Beast

By now a calm had settled over him, a kind of primordial survival instinct, he believes.

From The Daily Beast

His point now became exactly what it used to be in the primordial dog—a pause of preparation before the spring.

From Project Gutenberg

Nu was the spirit of the primordial deep, and Nut of the waters above the heavens, the mother of moon and sun and the stars.

From Project Gutenberg

First of all Thales thought that water was the primordial substance of all things.

From Project Gutenberg

He lifted a pseudopod from primordial ooze, and the pseudopod was him.

From Project Gutenberg

Brilliant as are, in certain animal species, the destinies of the male, the female is primordial.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• prehistoric
• primal
• primeval
• primitive
• pristine