- primitive
- c.1400, "of a thing from which something is derived, not secondary" (a sense now associated with primary), from O.Fr. primitif (fem. primitive), from L. primitivus "first or earliest of its kind," from primitus "at first," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)). Meaning "of or belonging to the first age" is from c.1526. In Christian sense of "adhering to the qualities of the early Church" it is recorded from 1685. Of untrained artists from 1942.