primate

See also: Primate

English

WOTD – 29 March 2016

A gorilla, which is a type of primate, in Duisburg Zoo, Duisburg, Germany

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pri‧mate

Etymology 1

From French primate [1876], from Latin primas (“one of the first, chief, excellent, noble”). So named due to the belief that primates are the “highest” order of mammals/animals.

Noun

primate (plural primates)

1. (zoology) A mammal of the order Primates, including simians and prosimians.

   Primates range from lemurs to gorillas.

2. (informal) A simian anthropoid; an ape, human or monkey.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:primate

• ape
• aye-aye
• capuchin
• douroucouli
• entrina (Indri indri)
• galago

• gibbon
• great ape
• howler monkey
• human, human being
• indri (Indri indri)
• lemur
• loris

• marmoset
• monkey
• night monkey
• owl monkey
• potto
• saki
• simian

• spider monkey
• squirrel monkey
• tamarin
• tarsier
• titi
• uakari
• woolly monkey

Translations

mammal

• Afrikaans: primaat
• Albanian: primat m
• Arabic: رَئِيسِيَّات‎ f pl (raʾīsiyyāt) (collective)
• Armenian: պրիմատ (hy) (primat)
• Azerbaijani: primat
• Belarusian: прыма́т m (prymát)
• Bulgarian: прима́т m (primát)
• Burmese: ပရိုင်းမိတ် (pa.ruing:mit)
• Catalan: primat m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 靈長目動物, 灵长目动物 (língzhǎngmù dòngwù), 靈長目 (zh), 灵长目 (zh) (língzhǎngmù)

• Czech: primát (cs) m
• Danish: primat c
• Dutch: primaat (nl) m
• Estonian: esikloomaline, primaat
• Finnish: kädellinen (fi)
• French: primate (fr) m
• Georgian: პრიმატი (ṗrimaṭi)
• German: Primat (de) m
• Greek: πρωτεύον n (protévon)
• Hebrew: פְּרִימָט‎ m
• Hindi: नरवानर m (narvānar), प्राइमेट m (prāimeṭ)
• Hungarian: főemlős (hu)
• Icelandic: prímati m, fremdardýr n
• Italian: primati m (plurale tantum), primate (it)
• Japanese: 霊長類 (ja) (れいちょうるい, reichōrui) (collective)
• Kazakh: примат (primat)
• Korean: 영장류(靈長類) (yeongjangnyu) (collective), 령장류(靈長類) (ryeongjangnyu) (North Korea, collective)
• Kyrgyz: примат (primat)

• Latvian: primāts m
• Lithuanian: primatas (lt) m
• Macedonian: прима́т m (primát)
• Malay: primat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: primat m

  Nynorsk: primat m

• Occitan: primat m
• Persian: نخستی‌سان‎ (noxosti-sân), نخستی‎ (noxosti)
• Polish: naczelny (pl) m
• Portuguese: primata (pt) m
• Romanian: primat (ro) n
• Russian: прима́т (ru) m (primát)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прѝма̄т m

  Roman: prìmāt (sh) m

• Slovak: primát m
• Slovene: prvak (sl) m, primat m
• Spanish: primate (es) m
• Swedish: primat c
• Tajik: примат (primat)
• Tatar: примат (primat)
• Thai: ไพรเมต (prai-mèet)
• Turkish: primat (tr)
• Turkmen: primat
• Ukrainian: прима́т (uk) m (prymát)
• Uzbek: primat
• Vietnamese: động vật có tay, động vật linh trưởng
• Yiddish: פּרימאַט‎ m (primat)

Etymology 2

From Middle English primate, primat, from Old French primat, from a noun use of Latin primat-, from primas, alternative form of primus (“prime, first rank”). Compare English primus, of similar derivation and meaning. [circa 1200]

Noun

primate (plural primates)

1. (ecclesiastical) In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription.
2. (ecclesiastical) In the Orthodox Church, the presiding bishop of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or region. Usually, the expression primate refers to the first hierarch of an autocephalous or autonomous Orthodox church. Less often, it is used to refer to the ruling bishop of an archdiocese or diocese.
3. (ecclesiastical) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• Primate of All England
• Primate of England
• Primate of the Gauls

• Primates
• primateship

Related terms

• primatial
• primus

Translations

archbishop or bishop

• Bulgarian: архиепи́скоп m (arhiepískop) (archbishop)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 總主教 (zh), 总主教 (zh) (zǒngzhǔjiào)

• Dutch: primaat (nl) m
• Finnish: priimas (fi)
• French: primat (fr) m
• German: Primat (de) m, Primas (de) m
• Italian: primate (it) m
• Japanese: 大主教 (だいしゅきょう, daishukyō)
• Korean: 대주교(大主敎) (daejugyo)

• Manx: ard-aspick m
• Maori: pīhopa mātāmua, paraimete
• Polish: prymas (pl) m
• Portuguese: primado (pt) m
• Romanian: primat (ro) n
• Russian: архиепи́скоп (ru) m (arxijepískop) (archbishop), епи́скоп (ru) m (jepískop) (bishop), прима́с (ru) m (primás)
• Spanish: primado (es) m
• Vietnamese: tổng giám mục (vi)

See also

• ultimate
• exarch
• patriarch

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁi.mat/

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (mammal)

See also

• primat m
• primauté
• primatie

Further reading

• “primate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• empirât, trempai

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Galician

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /priˈma.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: pri‧mà‧te

Noun

primate m (plural primati)

1. primate (ecclesiastical title)

Related terms

• primati (mammals) (plurale tantum)
• primato (primacy)

Anagrams

• impetra, tempari, temprai

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈmate/, [pɾiˈma.t̪e]

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

Further reading

• “primate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014