Etymograph

English

prime

Prime comes from Old French prime and Latin prīmus ‘first’, from Proto-Italic *priisemos ‘foremost’, a superlative of *pri ‘before’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pri1‘before’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*priisemos1‘foremost, first’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīmus1‘first; chief’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prime1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prime1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590prime1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English prime
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “His larum bell might lowd and wyde be hard,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*priWiktionary, English prime‘before’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*priisemosWiktionary, English prime‘foremost, first’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīmusWiktionary, English prime‘first; chief’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400primeWiktionary, English prime
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500primeWiktionary, English prime
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590primeWiktionary, English prime. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “His larum bell might lowd and wyde be hard,…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with prime, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘beyond, before’

  • first ← fyrest ← *furist ← *furistaz ← *furai
  • before ← before//bifore ← beforan ← foran ← *furai
  • support ← supporten ← supporter ← supportō ← portō
  • far ← ferre ← *ferrai ← *per-nóy
  • per
  • report ← reporten ← reporter ← reportāre ← porto
  • further ← forþor ← *furþer
  • fear ← feer ← fǣr ← *fērō
  • opportunity ← opportunité ← opportūnitās ← opportūnus ← portus
  • press ← presse ← pressa ← presser ← pressāre
  • practice
  • port ← portus ← *portus ← *pértus

199 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of prime

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-‘before, in front’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*préy‘before, in front’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*prīzmos‘foremost, first’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīmus
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prim
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentprime‘reward, prize, bonus’
  7. Englishtodayprime

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Today it means

adj First in importance, degree, or rank.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prime”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *pri / prime