1.  primitive(n = noun.person) primitive person - a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization; Array
is a kind of individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul
has particulars: aryan, indo-european, autochthon, basket maker, cave dweller, cave man, caveman, troglodyte, heidelberg man, homo heidelbergensis, ape-man, missing link, mound builder, piltdown hoax, piltdown man, barbarian, savage, feral man, wild man
Derived forms adjective primitive₃, adjective primitive₂

2.  primitive(n = noun.communication) Array - a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived; Array
is a kind of expression, formula

3.  primitive(n = noun.communication) Array - a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms; "`pick' is the primitive from which `picket' is derived"
is a kind of word

1.  primitive(s = adj.all) crude, rude - belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness; "the crude weapons and rude agricultural implements of early man"; "primitive movies of the 1890s"; "primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains"
Derived form noun primitiveness₁

2.  primitive(s = adj.all) archaic - little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type; "archaic forms of life"; "primitive mammals"; "the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe"
Derived forms noun primitive₁, noun primitiveness₁

3.  primitive(s = adj.all) Array - used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies; "primitive societies"
Derived forms noun primitive₁, noun primitiveness₁

4.  primitive(s = adj.all) naive - of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style; "primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking"

1.  Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. Milton. [1913 Webster]

2.  Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress. [1913 Webster]

3.  Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar. [1913 Webster]

   An original or primary word; a word not derived from another; -- opposed to derivative. [1913 Webster]

primitive, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 early, ancient; at an early stage of civilization (primitive man).
2 undeveloped, crude, simple (primitive methods).
3 original, primary.
4 Gram. & Philol. (of words or language) radical; not derivative.
5 Math. (of a line, figure, etc.) from which another is derived, from which some construction begins, etc.
6 (of a colour) primary.
7 Geol. of the earliest period.
8 Biol. appearing in the earliest or a very early stage of growth or evolution.
--n.
1 a a painter of the period before the Renaissance. b a modern imitator of such. c an untutored painter with a direct na{iuml}ve style. d a picture by such a painter.
2 a primitive word, line, etc.

Idiom:
the Primitive Church the Christian Church in its earliest times.

Derivative:
primitively adv. primitiveness n.

Etymology:
ME f. OF primitif -ive or L primitivus first of its kind f. primitus in the first place f. primus first

N  beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation, introduction, alpha, initial, inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain, maiden speech, outbreak, onset, brunt, initiative, move, first move, narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge, fresh start, new departure, origin, source, rise, bud, germ, egg, rudiment, genesis, primogenesis, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy, start, inception, creation, starting point, dawn, evolution, title-page, head, heading, van, caption, fatihah, entrance, entry, inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon, door, gate, gateway, postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule, propylaeum, skirts, border, first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight, rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, ABC, beginning, initial, initiatory, initiative, inceptive, introductory, incipient, proemial, inaugural, inchoate, inchoative, embryonic, rudimental, primogenial, primeval, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, natal, nascent, first, foremost, leading, maiden, begun, just begun, at the beginning, in the beginning first, in the first place, imprimis, first and foremost, in limine, in the bud, in embryo, in its infancy, from the beginning, from its birth, ab initio, ab ovo, ab incunabilis, ab origine, let's get going!, let's get this show on the road!, up and at 'em!, aller Anfang ist schwer, dimidium facti qui coepit habet, omnium rerum principia parva sunt.

N  oldness, age, antiquity, cobwebs of antiquity, maturity, decline, decay, senility, seniority, eldership, primogeniture, archaism, thing of the past, relic of the past, megatherium, Sanskrit, tradition, prescription, custom, immemorial usage, common law, old, ancient, antique, of long standing, time-honored, venerable, elder, eldest, firstborn, prime, primitive, primeval, primigenous, paleolontological, paleontologic, paleoanthropological, paleoanthropic, paleolithic, primordial, primordinate, aboriginal, diluvian, antediluvian, protohistoric, prehistoric, antebellum, colonial, precolumbian, patriarchal, preadamite, paleocrystic, fossil, paleozoolical, paleozoic, preglacial, antemundane, archaic, classic, medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, ancestral, black-letter, immemorial, traditional, prescriptive, customary, whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contr, inveterate, rooted, antiquated, of other times, rococo, of the old school, after-age, obsolete, out of date, out of fashion, out of it, stale, old-fashioned, behind the age, old-world, exploded, gone out, gone by, passe, run out, senile, time worn, crumbling, secondhand, old as the hills, old as Methuselah, old as Adam, old as history, Archeozoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Paleogene, Neocene, Quaternary, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent, since the world was made, since the year one, since the days of Methuselah, vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.

N  cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

primitive art, primitive person