primary

UK/ˈpɹaɪ.m(ə.)ɹi/US/ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹ.i/

nounB22 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,685 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: primaries

A primary is one of the colours others are mixed from. The three primaries, primary colours, mix from primaries.

Which three depends on what you are mixing: red, yellow and blue for paint by tradition, cyan, magenta and yellow for printing, and red, green and blue for light — which is why a screen and a palette behave so differently. In politics an American primary chooses a party's candidate. Note that the Latin means first.

Definitions of primary

1nouncolourOne of the colours others are mixed from.B2
“Red, yellow and blue are the primary colours that painters mix.”
2adjectivefirstFirst in importance or order.B1
“Our primary concern is the safety of the children.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

primary is a first thing.

Where it comes from

Latin primarius comes from primus, first. Prime, primitive and premier come from the same first.

Latin
prīmārius — of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent
English, today
primary

Latin prīmārius (“of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent”), from prīmus (first; whence the English - adjective prime) + -ārius (whence the English - suffix -ary); compare the French primaire, primer, and premier. a doublet of premier.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Colours & Patterns

Practise this word

primary in the wild

The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in developing countries than it does in developed countries.
Primary sector
The testicle in the male and the ovary in the female are called the primary sex organs.
Sex organ
In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary schools are "pupils".
Student
In journalism, a primary source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation, or a document written by such a person.
Primary source
Primary sources are distinguished from secondary sources, which interpret, analyze, or otherwise comment on primary sources.
Primary source

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the prīmārius family

primary premier primarily

primary — used about once every 383 pages · #2,685 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of primary

1nouncolourOne of the colours others are mixed from.B2

“Red, yellow and blue are the primary colours that painters mix.”

2adjectivefirstFirst in importance or order.B1

“Our primary concern is the safety of the children.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

primary is a first thing.