being the first or earliest of the kind or in existence, especially in an early age of the world: primitive forms of life.
early in the history of the world or of humankind.
characteristic of early ages or of an early state of human development: primitive toolmaking.
Anthropology. of or relating to a preliterate or tribal people having cultural or physical similarities with their early ancestors: no longer in technical use.
unaffected or little affected by civilizing influences; uncivilized; savage: primitive passions.
being in its earliest period; early: the primitive phase of the history of a town.
old-fashioned: primitive ideas and habits.
simple; unsophisticated: a primitive farm implement.
crude; unrefined: primitive living conditions.
Linguistics.
of or relating to a form from which a word or other linguistic form is derived; not derivative; original or radical.
of or relating to a protolanguage.
of or relating to a linguistic prime.
primary, as distinguished from secondary.
Biology.
rudimentary; primordial.
noting species, varieties, etc., only slightly evolved from early antecedent types.
of early formation and temporary, as a part that subsequently disappears.
noun
someone or something primitive.
Fine Arts.
an artist of a preliterate culture.
a naive or unschooled artist.
an artist belonging to the early stage in the development of a style.
a work of art by a primitive artist.
Mathematics.
a geometric or algebraic form or expression from which another is derived.
a function of which the derivative is a given function.
Linguistics. the form from which a given word or other linguistic form has been derived, by either morphological or historical processes, as take in undertake.
Origin of primitive
1350–1400;Middle English (noun and adj.) (< Middle Frenchprimitif) < Latinprīmitīvus first of its kind. See prime, -itive
showing the characteristics of primitive painters; untrained, childlike, or naive
geologypertaining to magmas that have experienced only small degrees of fractional crystallization or crystal contamination
obsoleteof, relating to, or denoting rocks formed in or before the Palaeozoic era
obsoletedenoting a word from which another word is derived, as for example hope, from which hopeless is derived
Protestant theolof, relating to, or associated with a minority group that breaks away from a sect, denomination, or Church in order to return to what is regarded as the original simplicity of the Gospels
noun
a primitive person or thing
an artist whose work does not conform to traditional, academic, or avant-garde standards of Western painting, such as a painter from an African or Oceanic civilization
a painter of the pre-Renaissance era in European painting
a painter of any era whose work appears childlike or untrainedAlso called (for senses 11a, 11c): naive
a work by such an artist
a word or concept from which another word or concept is derived
mathsa curve, function, or other form from which another is derived
late 14c., "of an original cause; of a thing from which something is derived; not secondary" (a sense now associated with primary), from Old French primitif "very first, original" (14c.) and directly from Latin primitivus "first or earliest of its kind," from primitus "at first," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)).
Meaning "of or belonging to the first age" is from early 15c. Meaning "having the style of an early or ancient time" is from 1680s. In Christian sense of "adhering to the qualities of the early Church" it is recorded from 1680s. Of untrained artists from 1942. Related: Primitively.
primitive
n.
c.1400, "original ancestor," from Latin primitivus (see primitive (adj.)). Meaning "aboriginal person in a land visited by Europeans" is from 1779, hence the sense "uncivilized person."
