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[prim-i-tiv] /ˈprɪm ɪ tɪv/

adjective
1.
being the first or earliest of the kind or in existence, especially in an early age of the world:
primitive forms of life.
2.
early in the history of the world or of humankind.
3.
characteristic of early ages or of an early state of human development:
primitive toolmaking.
4.
Anthropology. of or relating to a preliterate or tribal people having cultural or physical similarities with their early ancestors: no longer in technical use.
5.
unaffected or little affected by civilizing influences; uncivilized; savage:
primitive passions.
6.
being in its earliest period; early:
the primitive phase of the history of a town.
7.
old-fashioned:
primitive ideas and habits.
8.
simple; unsophisticated:
a primitive farm implement.
9.
crude; unrefined:
primitive living conditions.
10.
Linguistics.

11.
primary, as distinguished from secondary.
12.
Biology.

noun
13.
someone or something primitive.
14.
Fine Arts.

15.
Mathematics.

16.
Linguistics. the form from which a given word or other linguistic form has been derived, by either morphological or historical processes, as take in undertake.
/ˈprɪmɪtɪv/
adjective
1.
of or belonging to the first or beginning; original
2.
characteristic of an early state, esp in being crude or uncivilized: a primitive dwelling
3.
(anthropol) denoting or relating to a preliterate and nonindustrial social system
4.
(biology)

5.
showing the characteristics of primitive painters; untrained, childlike, or naive
6.
(geology) pertaining to magmas that have experienced only small degrees of fractional crystallization or crystal contamination
7.
(obsolete) of, relating to, or denoting rocks formed in or before the Palaeozoic era
8.
(obsolete) denoting a word from which another word is derived, as for example hope, from which hopeless is derived
9.
(Protestant theol) of, relating to, or associated with a minority group that breaks away from a sect, denomination, or Church in order to return to what is regarded as the original simplicity of the Gospels
noun
10.
a primitive person or thing
11.

12.
a work by such an artist
13.
a word or concept from which another word or concept is derived
14.
(maths) a curve, function, or other form from which another is derived
adj.

late 14c., “of an original cause; of a thing from which something is derived; not secondary” (a sense now associated with primary), from Old French primitif “very first, original” (14c.) and directly from Latin 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 early 15c. Meaning “having the style of an early or ancient time” is from 1680s. In Christian sense of “adhering to the qualities of the early Church” it is recorded from 1680s. Of untrained artists from 1942. Related: Primitively.
n.

c.1400, “original ancestor,” from Latin primitivus (see primitive (adj.)). Meaning “aboriginal person in a land visited by Europeans” is from 1779, hence the sense “uncivilized person.”

primitive prim·i·tive (prĭm’ĭ-tĭv)
adj.

prim’i·tive·ness or prim’i·tiv’i·ty n.
primitive
(prĭm’ĭ-tĭv)