source: By HappyMidnight - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

1. relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something:

〖通例名詞の前で〗原始(時代)の, (発達)初期の, 太古の

e.g. primitive mammals

e.g. a name corrupted from primitive German.

relating to or denoting a preliterate, nonindustrial society or culture characterized by simple social and economic organization:

〖通例名詞の前で〗原始的な, 未開の

e.g. primitive people.

(of behavior, thought, or emotion) apparently originating in unconscious needs or desires and unaffected by objective reasoning:

単純な, 手の込んでいない(crude); 古くさい, 野暮ったい

e.g. the primitive responses we share with many animals.

of or denoting a simple, direct style of art that deliberately rejects sophisticated artistic techniques.

2. having a quality or style that offers an extremely basic level of comfort, convenience, or efficiency:

e.g. the accommodations at the camp were a bit primitive.

3. not developed or derived from anything else:

e.g. the primitive material of the universe.

Linguistics denoting a word, base, or root from which another is historically derived.

語源［語根］の

Mathematics (of an algebraic or geometric expression) from which another is derived, or which is not itself derived from another.

4. Biology (of a part or structure) in the first or early stage of formation or growth; rudimentary. See also primitive streak.

〘生物〙 初生の, 原始の

1. a person belonging to a preliterate, nonindustrial society or culture.

原始人; 素朴な人

2. a pre-Renaissance painter.

ルネッサンス期以前の画家［彫刻家］

a modern painter who imitates the pre-Renaissance style.

an artist employing a simple, naive style that deliberately rejects subtlety or conventional techniques.

素朴な絵を描く画家

a painting by a primitive artist, or an object in a primitive style.

3. Linguistics a word, base, or root from which another is historically derived.

〘言〙 語根語, 祖語.

Mathematics an algebraic or geometric expression from which another is derived; a curve of which another is the polar or reciprocal.

〘数〙 原始関数

Computing a simple operation or procedure of a limited set from which complex operations or procedures may be constructed, especially a simple geometric shape that may be generated in computer graphics by such an operation or procedure.

primitively |ˈprimədivlē| adverb

primitiveness |ˈprimədivnəs| noun

primitivity |ˌpriməˈtivətē| noun

late Middle English (in the sense ‘original, not derivative’): from Old French primitif, -ive, from Latin primitivus ‘first of its kind’, from primus ‘first’.