1. [n]  a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms; "`pick' is the primitive from which `picket' is derived"
2. [n]  a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
3. [n]  a person who belongs to early stage of civilization
4. [adj]  (anthropology; of societies) preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial; "primitive societies"
5. [adj]  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"
6. [adj]  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"
7. [adj]  (fine arts) 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"

Primitive
Primitive

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1. \Prim"i*tive\, a. [L. primitivus, fr. primus the
   first: cf. F. primitif. See {Prime}, a.]
   1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early
      times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as,
      primitive innocence; the primitive church. ``Our primitive
      great sire.'' --Milton.
   2. Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned;
      characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of
      dress.
   3. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive
      verb in grammar.
   {Primitive axes of co["o]rdinate} (Geom.), that system of
      axes to which the points of a magnitude are first
      referred, with reference to a second set or system, to
      which they are afterward referred.
   {Primitive chord} (Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of
      which is of the same literal denomination as the
      fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative.
      --Moore (Encyc. of Music).
   {Primitive circle} (Spherical Projection), the circle cut
      from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane.
   {Primitive colors} (Paint.), primary colors. See under
      {Color}.
   {Primitive Fathers} (Eccl.), the acknowledged Christian
      writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D.
      325. --Shipley.
   {Primitive groove} (Anat.), a depression or groove in the
      epiblast of the primitive streak. It is not connected with
      the medullary groove, which appears later and in front of
      it.
   {Primitive plane} (Spherical Projection), the plane upon
      which the projections are made, generally coinciding with
      some principal circle of the sphere, as the equator or a
      meridian.
   {Primitive rocks} (Geol.), primary rocks. See under
      {Primary}.
   {Primitive sheath}. (Anat.) See {Neurilemma}.
   {Primitive streak} or {trace} (Anat.), an opaque and
      thickened band where the mesoblast first appears in the
      vertebrate blastoderm.
   Syn: First; original; radical; pristine; ancient; primeval;
        antiquated; old-fashioned.
   

2. \Prim"i*tive\, n.
   An original or primary word; a word not derived from another;
   -- opposed to derivative.
   

A function, operator, or type which is built into a programming language (or operating system), either for speed of execution or because it would be impossible to write it in the language. Primitives typically include the arithmetic and logical operations (plus, minus, and, or, etc.) and are implemented by a small number of machine language instructions.