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primate
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Primate
English
Pronunciation
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)
- (zoology) A mammal of the order Primates, including apes (which include humans), monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, lorisids, and galagos.
- Primates range from lemurs to gorillas.
- (informal) A simian anthropoid; an ape (including human) or monkey.
Hyponyms
- See also Thesaurus:primate
Derived terms
Translations
mammal
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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
Noun
primate (plural primates)
- (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.
- (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.
- (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
- primate city
- Primate of All England
- Primate of England
- Primate of the Gauls
- primateship
- primatical
- prince-primate
Related terms
Translations
archbishop or bishop
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See also
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French
Pronunciation
Noun
primate m (plural primates)
- primate (mammal)
See also
Further reading
- “primate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Galician
Pronunciation
Noun
primate m (plural primates)
- primate (animal)
Italian
Pronunciation
Noun
primate m (plural primati)
- primate (ecclesiastical title)
Related terms
- primati (mammals) (plurale tantum)
- primato (primacy)
Anagrams
Serbo-Croatian
Verb
primate (Cyrillic spelling примате)
Spanish
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin prīmātem (“first, principal; hero”).
Noun
primate m (plural primates)
- primate (animal)
Etymology 2
Verb
primate
- 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], 2024 December 10
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