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 (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pri‧mate

Etymology 1

First attested in 1876. From French primate, from the substantivization of Latin prīmās, prīmātis (“one of the first, chief, excellent, noble”), same as Etymology 2. So named due to the belief that primates are the highest order of mammals or animals.

Noun

primate (plural primates)

1. (zoology) A mammal of the order Primates, including apes (which include humans), monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, lorisids, and galagos.

   Primates range from lemurs to gorillas.

2. (informal) A simian anthropoid; an ape (including 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

Derived terms

• euprimate
• nonprimate
• primatal
• primatelike
• primatology
• primatophilic
• subprimate
• superprimate
• super-primate
• supraprimate

Translations

mammal

• Afrikaans: primaat
• Albanian: primat m
• Arabic: رَئِيسِيَّات f pl (raʔīsiyyāt) (collective)
• Armenian: պրիմատ (hy) (primat)
• Asturian: primate (ast) m
• 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 / 灵长目 (zh) (língzhǎngmù)

• Czech: primát (cs) m, nehetnatec 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)
• Hungarian: főemlős (hu)
• Icelandic: prímati m, fremdardýr n
• Indonesian: primata (id)
• 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)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: destdar (ku) m or f, prîmat (ku) m or f

• 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 (oc) m
• Ottoman Turkish: میمون (maymun)
• 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 (sv) 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

First attested in c. 1275. From Middle English primat(e), from Old French primat (French primat), from Late Latin prīmās, prīmātis (“chief bishop”), substantivisation of prīmās (same as Etymology 1), from prīmus (“prime, first in rank (also as a substantive)”). Compare English primus, of similar derivation and meaning.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/, /ˈpɹaɪmət/

Noun

primate (plural primates)

1. (Christianity) 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.

   The Archbishop of Quebec is the primate of Canada.

2. (Christianity) 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. (Christianity) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

Usage notes

• To disambiguate from sense 1, which is always pronounced /'pɹaɪmeɪt/, sense 2 is often pronounced /ˈpɹaɪmət/ (rhymes with "climate"), but it can also be pronounced the same as sense 1.

Derived terms

• abbot primate
• archprimate
• primate city
• Primate of All England
• Primate of England
• Primate of the Gauls
• primateship
• primatical
• prince-primate

Related terms

• primatial
• primus

Translations

archbishop or bishop

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

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

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

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁi.mat/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (mammal)
2. (colloquial) a coarse man (male)

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

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈmate/ [pɾiˈma.t̪ɪ]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: pri‧ma‧te

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

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

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

primate (Cyrillic spelling примате)

1. second-person plural present of primati

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈmate/ [pɾiˈma.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: pri‧ma‧te

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin prīmātem (“first, principal; hero”).

Noun

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

Etymology 2

Verb

primate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of primar combined with te

Further reading

• “primate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024