Etymology

primary

P3R1I1M3A1R1Y4

Today it means: First or earliest in a group or series. Full definition →

Latin prīmārius
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · borrowed fromprīmārius“of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent”
  2. English todayprimary

Borrowed from Latin prīmārius (“of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent”), from prīmus (first; whence the English adjective prime) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French primaire, primer, and premier. Doublet of premier.

Words from the same roots

Latinprīmārius all →

premierprimerprimero

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.