primer

From Middle English primer, primere, from Medieval Latin primarius and primarium (“prayer book”) possibly via Anglo-Norman primer (“prayer book”), from prima (“prime the liturgical hour and office”) + -arius and -arium (suffix forming related objects). Its use for schoolbooks derived from the late medieval and early modern use of such prayer books to teach reading.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.mə/, enPR: prīʹmə

• Audio (UK):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪm.əɹ/, enPR: prĭmʹər

  • Audio (Midwestern):

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• (US, irregular, but common; borrowed from Etymology 2) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪməɹ/, enPR: prīʹmər

  • Audio (California, irregular pronunciation):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪmə(ɹ), -ɪmə(ɹ)
• Homophone: primmer

primer (plural primers)

1. (historical, Catholicism ecclesiastical) A prayer or devotional book intended for laity, initially an abridgment of the breviary and manual including the hours of the Virgin Mary, 15 gradual and 7 penitential psalms, the litany, the placebo and dirige forming the office of the dead, and the commendations.

   Synonyms: book of hours, prayer book

2. (historical, Protestantism ecclesiastical) Any of various similar works issued in England for private prayer in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer.
3. A children's book intended to teach literacy: how to read, write, and spell.
   • 1545, The A.B.C. Primers:
   • 1995, Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age […] , New York: Bantam Spectra, →ISBN:

     Four-year-old Elizabeth Finkle-McGraw would receive the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer from her grandfather. Fiona Hackworth would be getting a copy of the Illustrated Primer too, for this had been John Percival Hackworth's crime: He had programmed the matter compiler to place the cockleburs on the outside of Elizabeth's book.

4. An introductory text on any subject, particularly basic concepts.
   • 1959 March, “New Reading on Railways: The Railwayman's Diesel Manual. By William F. Bolton. G. H. Lake. 7s. 6d.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 172:

     [...] The two assets of the book are clear explanation, and a multitude of extremely helpful diagrams, some in two colours, and cutaway photographs; these clearly unravel a difficult subject for the layman, as well as the student engineman for whom the primer is chiefly designed.

5. (New Zealand, obsolete) An elementary school class; an elementary school student.

From prime + -er.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.mə(ɹ)/, enPR: prīʹmə

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪmɚ/, enPR: prīmʹə

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪmə(ɹ)

primer (countable and uncountable, plural primers)

1. Any substance or device, such as priming wire or blasting cap, used to ignite gunpowder or other explosive.
   • 1912, United States Army Ordnance Dept, Handbook of the 2.95-inch mountain gun mate/riel and pack outfit, →ISBN, page 17:

     The percussion primer, known as the “ 110-grain percussion primer,” contains an igniting charge of 95 grains of black powder in addition to the essential elements of a percussion primer.

   • 2003, Sam Fadala, The Gun Digest Blackpowder Loading Manual, →ISBN, page 73:

     Therefore, the shotgun primer is quite self- contained. It consists of a separate metal cup called a battery cup that contains the primer itself. That's why it is considered a two-piece primer.

   • 2016, Steve Sieberts, Gun Digest Shooter's Guide to Competitive Pistol Shooting, →ISBN, page 224:

     Take care when handling primers, especially ensure that your fingers are free of oil or dirt. Oil can affect the detonating properties of the primer pellet, and can be the cause of misfires if too much oil gets into the primer.

2. (obsolete) A person who primes explosives.
3. A substance used to prime wood, metal, etc. in preparation for painting.
4. A layer of such a substance.
5. A layer of makeup that goes beneath the foundation; undermakeup.
   • 1989, Stan Place, Bobbi Ray Madry, The Art and Science of Professional Makeup, →ISBN, page 95:

     The undermakeup (primer) should be allowed to dry-set for 30 seconds. Apply foundation over the primer with a sponge using light, careful strokes to blend. Undermakeups come in cream form, sponge-on wands, or sponge-on cream, and as a lotion.

6. (obsolete) A person who primes wood, metal, etc.
7. (biochemistry, genetics) A molecule which initiates the synthesis of an enzyme, (especially) a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule which initiates DNA replication.
8. (medicine, zoology) A pheromone which interacts first with the endocrine system.
9. A device used to prime an internal combustion engine with gasoline, (especially) in airplanes.
10. A person who prunes trees.

• primary
• prime

From Anglo-Norman primer (“first”), from Latin prīmārius (“first”).

primer (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) First in time, initial, early.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:

     the primer English kings

2. (obsolete) First in importance, premier.
3. (obsolete, rare) First in position, foremost.

• primer fine
• primer seizin

• Prime, Primer and Priming in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Catalan numbers ^(edit)

		10[a], [b], [c]
		1	2  →	10  → [a], [b], [c]
Cardinal: u, un     Ordinal: primer     Ordinal abbreviation: 1r
Catalan Wikipedia article on 1

Inherited from Old Catalan primer, from Latin prīmārius.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾiˈme]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾiˈmeɾ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e(ɾ)

primer (feminine primera, masculine plural primers, feminine plural primeres)

1. (ordinal number) first
2. (mathematics) prime (having no divisor except itself and 1):

primer

1. first; before anything else

• “primer”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “primer”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

• IPA^(key): /pʁi.me/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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primer

1. to dominate, to be dominant over
2. to win (a prize)
3. to prevail, take precedent

• “primer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From German primär, from French primaire, from Latin primarius.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈprimɛr]
• Hyphenation: pri‧mer
• Rhymes: -ɛr

primer (comparative primerebb, superlative legprimerebb)

1. primary

   primer feszültség ― primary voltage

• primer in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

From Dutch primair, from French primaire, from Latin prīmārius.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈprimɛr/ [ˈpri.mɛr]
• Rhymes: -imɛr
• Syllabification: pri‧mer

primèr (comparative lebih primer, superlative paling primer)

1. primary:
   1. first or earliest in a group or series
   2. main; principal; chief; placed ahead of others

• primair (law)

• “primer”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

primer m (oblique and nominative feminine singular primere)

1. alternative form of premier

primer

1. alternative form of premier

primer oblique singular, m (oblique plural primers, nominative singular primers, nominative plural primer)

1. alternative form of premier
2. (Anglo-Norman) primer (hymn book)

• primer on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Unadapted borrowing from English primer.

primer m

1. primer (layer of makeup)

• Primer (maquiagem) on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt

• prímjer (Ijekavian)

• IPA^(key): /prǐːmer/
• Hyphenation: pri‧mer

prímer m inan (Cyrillic spelling при́мер)

1. example, instance
2. model, paragon
3. precedence

• IPA^(key): /priméːr/

primẹ̑r m inan

1. example (something representative of a group)

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	primér
gen. sing.	priméra
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	primér	priméra	priméri
genitive (rodȋlnik)	priméra	primérov	primérov
dative (dajȃlnik)	priméru	priméroma	primérom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	primér	priméra	primére
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	priméru	primérih	primérih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	primérom	priméroma	priméri

• na prímer

Spanish numbers ^(edit)

	1
Cardinal: uno     Apocopated cardinal: un     Ordinal: primero     Apocopated ordinal: primer     Ordinal abbreviation: 1.º     Multiplier: simple     Distributive: sendos
Spanish Wikipedia article on 1

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈmeɾ/ [pɾiˈmeɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: pri‧mer

primer m (apocopate, standard form primero)

1. (before the noun) apocopic form of primero (first)

   el primer hijo ― the first child

   • 2025 April 30, Bryan Mena, “Economía de EE.UU. cae en primer trimestre y se acerca a la recesión por los abruptos cambios de política de Trump”, in CNN en Español‎^[1]:

     El producto bruto interno (PBI), que mide todos los bienes y servicios producidos en la economía, registró una tasa anualizada de -0,3 % en el primer trimestre, dijo este miércoles el Departamento de Comercio.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (informal, proscribed) apocopic form of primera (first)

• The form primer is only used before and within the noun phrase of a modified masculine singular noun. In other positions, the standard form primero is used instead.

• “primer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025