primate

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: pri‧mate

From French primate, from Latin primas (“one of the first, chief, excellent, noble”). So named due to the belief that primates are the “highest” order of mammals/animals. First attested in 1876.

primate (plural primates)

1. (zoology) A mammal of the order Primates, including apes, monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, lorisids, and galagos.

   Primates range from lemurs to gorillas.

2. (informal) A simian anthropoid; an ape (including human) or monkey.

• See also Thesaurus:primate

From Middle English primate, primat, from Old French primat, from Late Latin prīmās (“chief bishop”), substantivisation of prīmās, an alternative form of prīmus (“prime, first rank”). Compare English primus, of similar derivation and meaning. First attested in c. 1200.

primate (plural primates)

1. (ecclesiastical) In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription.

   The Archbishop of Quebec is the primate of Canada.

2. (ecclesiastical) In the Orthodox Church, the presiding bishop of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or region. Usually, the expression primate refers to the first hierarch of an autocephalous or autonomous Orthodox church. Less often, it is used to refer to the ruling bishop of an archdiocese or diocese.
3. (ecclesiastical) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

• primatial
• primus

• ultimate
• exarch
• patriarch

• IPA^(key): /pʁi.mat/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (mammal)

• primat m
• primauté
• primatie

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

• empirât, trempai

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈmate/ [pɾiˈma.t̪ɪ]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: pri‧ma‧te

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

• IPA^(key): /priˈma.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: pri‧mà‧te

primate m (plural primati)

1. primate (ecclesiastical title)

• primati (mammals) (plurale tantum)
• primato (primacy)

• impetra, tempari, temprai

primate (Cyrillic spelling примате)

1. second-person plural present of primati

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈmate/ [pɾiˈma.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: pri‧ma‧te

Borrowed from Latin prīmātem (“first, principal; hero”).

primate m (plural primates)

1. primate (animal)

primate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of primar combined with te

• “primate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28