¦ adjective
1. relating to or denoting the earliest times in history or stages in evolution or development.
of or denoting a preliterate, non-industrial society of simple organization.
Biology undeveloped; rudimentary.
2. offering an extremely basic level of comfort, convenience, or efficiency.
3. (of behaviour or emotion) instinctive and unreasoning.
4. of or denoting a deliberately simple and direct artistic style.
¦ noun
1. a person belonging to a primitive society.
2. a pre-Renaissance painter, or one employing a primitive style.
3. technical a word, expression, etc. from which others are derived.
Computing any of a set of basic geometric shapes generated in computer graphics.
Derivatives
primitively adverb
primitiveness noun
Origin
ME: from OFr. primitif, -ive, from L. primitivus 'first of its kind', from primus 'first'.