Primitive Meaning
/ˈpɹɪmɪtɪv/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn original or primary word; a word not derived from another, as opposed to derivative.
nounA member of a primitive society.
Sentence Examples
He contends that primitive life once existed on Mars.
The anthropologist delivered a lecture on primitive cultures.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ tool was made from a sharpened stone found nearby.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The archaeologists discovered ____ tools made from stone that dated back over a million years.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It may be that, living among primitive surroundings, the dormant primitive deep within the white man is drawn towards the absolute primitive in the aboriginal."
— 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 54:
"Out there in the primitive, white-man Rust had made his tools out of the primitive, as these stone-age people were making excellent string from the primitive."
— 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 113:
"A write-what-where primitive allows the attacker to write arbitrary data wherever they want in the memory"
— 2021, Arti Noor, Abhijit Sen, Gaurav Trivedi, Proceedings of Emerging Trends and Technologies on Intelligent Systems: ETTIS 2021, page 26:
"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:
""The cranium is clearly plesiomorphic in overall form, presenting primitive traits shared by earlier hominins," the authors wrote."
— 2025 September 27, Julia Jacobo, “Million-year-old skull could rewrite timeline of human origin, researchers say”, in ABC News, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2026:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ tool was made from a sharpened stone found nearby.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The archaeologists discovered ____ tools made from stone that dated back over a million years.