primordial

From the Latin prīmōrdiālis (“of the beginning”). Compare primordium and -al.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹaɪˈmɔː.di.əl/

  • Audio (UK):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹaɪˈmɔɹ.di.əl/

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹɑɪˈmoː.di.əl/

primordial (not comparable)

1. First, earliest or original.
   • 1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic , volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     the primordial facts of our intelligent nature

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 9:

     As an archetypal image of primordial unity, the cosmic egg suggests that there is unity and fragmentation, eternity and time.

2. (biology) Characteristic of the earliest stage of the development of an organism, or relating to a primordium.

   a primordial leaf; a primordial cell

3. Primeval.
4. Of an element or isotope: occurring primordially (on Earth) (i.e. inherited from when the Earth was formed); because it is stable, or radioactive but so long-lived that some is left over from when the Earth was formed. For example, primordial radioisotopes (T = half-life in years) include uranium-235 (T = 7×10⁸), potassium-40 (T = 1.25×10⁹), uranium-238 (T = 4.5×10⁹), and thorium-232 (T = 1.4×10¹⁰).

primordial (plural primordials)

1. A first principle or element.

Learned borrowing from Latin prīmōrdiālis (“of the beginning”).

• IPA^(key): /pʁi.mɔʁ.djal/

primordial (feminine primordiale, masculine plural primordiaux, feminine plural primordiales)

1. primordial, primitive, original

   Synonyms: originel, primitif

   soupe primordiale ― primordial soup

2. vital, essential, paramount, of paramount importance

   Synonyms: capital, essentiel

• primordialement

• “primordial”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

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primordial (strong nominative masculine singular primordialer, not comparable)

1. primordial

• “primordial” in Duden online
• “primordial” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Latin prīmōrdiālis (“of the beginning”).

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: pri‧mor‧di‧al

primordial m or f (plural primordiais)

1. primordial (first, earliest or original)

   Synonym: primeiro

2. primary, main, paramount

   Synonyms: capital, essencial, importante

   • 1982, Bernardo Soares, Livro do Desassossego, Vol.II:

     Em mim o que há de primordial é o hábito e o jeito de sonhar.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• primordialmente

• primórdio

• “primordial”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Borrowed from French primordial. By surface analysis, primordiu +‎ -al.

primordial m or n (feminine singular primordială, masculine plural primordiali, feminine and neuter plural primordiale)

1. primeval

• primordialitate

From Latin prīmōrdiālis (“of the beginning”). Cognate with English primordial.

• IPA^(key): /pɾimoɾˈdjal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pri‧mor‧dial

primordial m or f (masculine and feminine plural primordiales)

1. primordial
2. primary, paramount

• “primordial”, 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