primordial
/pɹaɪˈmɔː.di.əl/
primordial means first, earliest or original.
primordial is pronounced /pɹaɪˈmɔː.di.əl/.
Why “primordial” is a great word
Existing from or characteristic of the very beginning of time or the earliest stage of development. From the Late Latin prīmōrdiālis ("first of all, original"), from Latin prīmordium ("beginning, origin"), itself from prīmus ("first") and ordīrī ("to begin"), first attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike "primeval," which evokes a vast, untamed antiquity of forests or epochs, or "primitive," which implies a crude simplicity relative to what followed, primordial denotes the absolute first cause, the fundamental element before form. It is the hiss of cooling rock, the first coil of DNA in a thermal vent, the silent, pressurized dark before the first star flared—the substrate of all that is, heavy with unspent potential, when the world was still learning its own name.
Etymology
From the Latin prīmōrdiālis (“of the beginning”). Compare primordium and -al.
adj
- First, earliest or original.“the primordial facts of our intelligent nature”
- Characteristic of the earliest stage of the development of an organism, or relating to a primordium.“a primordial leaf; a primordial cell”
- Primeval.
- 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).
noun
- A first principle or element.
- A primordial condition or state.“With a horrified shriek she tore herself from Tarzan’s arms, and the ape-man turned just in time to ward with his arm a terrific blow that De Coude had aimed at his head. Once, twice, three times the heavy stick fell with lightning rapidity, and each blow aided in the transition of the ape-man back to the primordial.”
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