elementary

English

Etymology

From Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /(ˌ)ɛlɪ̈ˈmɛnt(ə)ɹɪ/
• enPR: ĕl'ĭ-mĕn′tə-rē, -trē, IPA^(key): /ˌɛlɪ̈ˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/
• Rhymes: -ɛntəɹi, -ɛntɹi
• Hyphenation: el‧e‧men‧ta‧ry

Adjective

elementary (comparative more elementary, superlative most elementary)

1. Relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something.
2. Relating to an elementary school.
3. (physics) Relating to a subatomic particle.
   • 2012 March, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, page 146:

     The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.

4. (archaic) Sublunary; not celestial; belonging to the sublunary sphere, to which the four classical elements (earth, air, fire and water) were confined; composed of or pertaining to these four elements.

Derived terms

• elementary charge
• elementary equivalence
• elementary function
• elementary particle
• elementary school
• elementary symmetric polynomial
• nonelementary

 

Translations

relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something

• Bulgarian: елемента́рен (bg) (elementáren)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 基本 (zh) (jīběn)

• Danish: elementær
• Esperanto: elementa (eo)
• Finnish: perus- (fi), perustava (fi)
• French: élémentaire (fr)
• German: elementar (de)
• Greek: στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis)
• Italian: elementare (it)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: elementārius
• Maori: whakapū
• Norwegian: enkelt (no)

  Bokmål: elementær, grunnleggende

  Nynorsk: elementær, grunnleggande, grunnleggjande

• Polish: podstawowy (pl) m, elementarny (pl) m
• Portuguese: elementar (pt)
• Romanian: elementar (ro) m or n, fundamental (ro) m or n
• Russian: элемента́рный (ru) (elementárnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: sìmplidh
• Spanish: elemental (es)

relating to an elementary school

• Bulgarian: нача́лен (bg) (načálen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小學的／小学的 (zh), 小学的 (zh) (xiǎoxué de)

• Danish: folkeskole-
• Greek: στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis)
• Italian: elementare (it)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: podstawowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: fundamental (pt)
• Romanian: elementară f (școală)
• Russian: нача́льный (ru) (načálʹnyj)
• Spanish: primaria (es)

relating to a subatomic particle

• Bulgarian: елемента́рен (bg) (elementáren)
• Danish: elementar-
• Greek: στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis)
• Italian: elementare (it)
• Polish: elementarny (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: elementar (pt)
• Romanian: elementar (ro) m or n
• Russian: элемента́рный (ru) (elementárnyj)
• Spanish: elemental (es)

Noun

elementary (plural elementaries)

1. An elementary school
2. (mythology, mysticism) A supernatural being which is associated with the elements.
   • 2003, H P Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky, volume 1:

     […] the spiritual man is either translated like Enoch and Elias to the higher state, or falls down lower than an elementary again […]

   • 2007, Gerald Massey, The Natural Genesis, page 332:

     But, in Africa these became definite in their Egyptian Types, by means of which we can follow their development from the elementaries of Chaos and Space into Celestial Intelligencers […]

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “elementary”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.