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primeval. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
primeval, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
primeval in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
primeval you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Latin primaevus (“in the first or earliest period of life”) + -al, from primus (“first”) + aevum (“time, age”); see prime and age.
Pronunciation
Adjective
primeval (comparative more primeval, superlative most primeval)
- Belonging to the first ages.
- Primary; original.
1827 July, “Asiatic Society of Calcutta”, in The Oriental Herald, and Journal of General Literature, volume XIV, number 43, London: Printed for the editor, and sold by all booksellers [printed by J. R. Gordon, 147, Strand], →OCLC, page 147:A letter from Mr. [Brian Houghton] Hodgson to Mr. Bayley, was then read, giving an outline of the theocracy of the Buddha system of Nepal. […] According to the information now communicated, the northern Buddhas acknowledge four sets of divine beings, or of superhuman objects of veneration. The first of these is, contrary to the generally supposed atheistical tendency of the faith, one primæval and uncreated deity. This first Buddha manifested five of his attributes, as five secondary Buddhas; in one of whom, Amitabha, or the 'immeasurably splendid,' in Prakrit and Pali, Amitabo, we recognise the Amito of the Japanese.
- Primitive.
1957, H. E. Bates, Death of a Huntsman:If their views were entrancing their sanitation was primeval; if they possessed stables they were also next to the gas-works; if their gardens were delightful there were odours suspicious of mice in the bedrooms.
Derived terms
Translations
belonging to the first ages
- Bulgarian: праисторически (praistoričeski)
- Catalan: primigeni m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 原始的 (zh) (yuánshǐ de)
- Czech: pravěký (cs) m
- Egyptian: (pꜣwtj)
- Finnish: alku- (fi), iki- (fi)
- French: primitif (fr) m
- Galician: primixéneo m
- Georgian: პირველყოფილი (ṗirvelq̇opili)
- German: urzeitlich (de)
- Greek: αρχέγονος (el) (archégonos)
- Ancient: ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos)
- Hebrew: ימי קדם (Y'mei Qedem)
- Irish: príomhaoiseach, cianaosta
- Italian: primordiale (it)
- Japanese: 原生 (ja) (げんせい, gensei), 原始 (ja) (げんし, genshi)
- Manx: bun-eashagh
- Polish: pradawny (pl), pradziejowy, prastary (pl), przedwieczny (pl)
- Portuguese: primevo (pt)
- Russian: первобы́тный (ru) (pervobýtnyj)
- Scottish Gaelic: àrsaidh, seantaidh
- Spanish: primigenio (es), primevo (es)
- Swedish: urtids-, urtida (sv)
- Tagalog: ka-noon-noonan, noong-unang-panahon
- Ukrainian: прада́вній m (pradávnij)
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Further reading
- “primeval”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “primeval”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.