Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Being or happening first in sequence of time; original.
  • adjective Primary or fundamental.
  • adjective Biology Belonging to or characteristic of the earliest stage of development of an organism or a part.
  • noun A basic principle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • First in order; earliest; original; primitive; existing from the beginning.
  • In anatomy, primitive; formative; in a rudimentary or embryonic state: opposed to definitive, or final, completed, or perfected: as, the primordial skull of man is partly membranous, partly cartilaginous.
  • In botany, first formed: applied to the first true leaves formed by a young plant, also to the first fruit produced on a raceme or spike.
  • In geology, containing the earliest traces of life.
  • Synonyms Prime, etc. See primary.
  • noun A first principle or element.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective First in order; primary; original; of earliest origin.
  • adjective (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the lowest beds of the Silurian age, corresponding to the Acadian and Potsdam periods in American geology. It is called also Cambrian, and by many geologists is separated from the Silurian.
  • adjective (Biol.) Originally or earliest formed in the growth of an individual or organ
  • adjective (Bot.) the interior lining of a young vegetable cell.
  • noun A first principle or element.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective first, earliest or original
  • adjective biology characteristic of the earliest stage of the development of an organism, or relating to a primordium
  • adjective primeval
  • noun A first principle or element.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Late Latin prīmōrdiālis, from Latin prīmōrdium, origin : prīmus, first; see per in Indo-European roots + ōrdīrī, to begin to weave; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin prīmōrdiālis ("of the beginning"). Confer primordium and -al.

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