primitive

Etymology

From Middle English primitif, from Old French primitif, from Latin prīmitīvus (“first or earliest of its kind”), from prīmus (“first”); see prime. Doublet of primitivo.

noun

1. (linguistics) An original or primary word; a word not derived from another, as opposed to derivative.
2. A member of a primitive society.
3. A simple-minded person.
4. (computing, programming) A data type that is built into the programming language, as opposed to more complex structures.
5. (computing, programming) Any of the simplest elements (instructions, statements, etc.) available in a programming language.
6. A basic geometric shape from which more complex shapes can be constructed.
7. (mathematics) A function whose derivative is a given function; an antiderivative.

adj

1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first.
   primitive innocence; the primitive church
   it is from such primitive beings that the highest organisms now extant are the marvellously developed descendants 1895, Edmund Montgomery, “To Be Alive, What is it?”, in The Monist
2. Of or pertaining to or harking back to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity.
   a primitive style of dress
   It could be said that the history of religions—from the most primitive to the most highly developed—is constituted by a great number of hierophanies, by manifestations of sacred realities. 1959, Mircea Eliade, “Introduction”, in Willard R. Trask, transl., The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (Harvest Book; HB 144), New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace & World, page 11
   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. 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
3. Crude, obsolete.
   primitive ideas
4. (grammar) Original; primary; radical; not derived.
   a primitive verb
   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. 1831, Noah Webster, Rudiments of English Grammar; Being an Abridgment of the Improved Grammar of the English Language, New-Haven, page 6
5. (biology) Occurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution.
6. (mathematics) Not derived from another of the same type
7. (linguistics, dated) most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of
   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). 1933, Leonard Bloomfield, Language, Henry Holt, page 13