adjective

1. of or existing in the beginning or the earliest times or ages; ancient; original
2. 1. characteristic or imitative of the earliest ages
   2. crude, simple, rough, uncivilized, etc.
3. not derivative; primary; basic
4. Anthrop. of or having to do with a preliterate, generally isolated, culture with a relatively low level of technology
5. Biol.
   1. designating or of an organism, organ, etc. at the starting point of its evolutionary development or very little evolved from early ancestral types
   2. primordial (sense )

Etymology: ME primitif < MFr < L primitivus < primus, first: see prime

noun

1. a primitive person or thing
2. 1. an artist or a work of art of an early, esp. preliterate, culture
   2. an artist or a work of art that shows ingenuousness and lack of formal training
3. Algebra, Geom. a form from which another is derived
4. Gram. the form from which a certain word or other form has been derived; root; base