adjective
- of or existing in the beginning or the earliest times or ages; ancient; original
- characteristic or imitative of the earliest ages
- crude, simple, rough, uncivilized, etc.
- not derivative; primary; basic
- Anthrop. of or having to do with a preliterate, generally isolated, culture with a relatively low level of technology
- Biol.
- designating or of an organism, organ, etc. at the starting point of its evolutionary development or very little evolved from early ancestral types
- primordial (sense )
Origin:
ME primitif < MFr < L primitivus < primus, first: see prime