# primate
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Hyphenation: pri‧mate

### Etymology 1

First attested in 1876. From French primate, from the substantivization of Latin prīmās, prīmātis (“one of the first, chief, excellent, noble”), same as Etymology 2. So named due to the belief that primates are the highest order of mammals or animals.

#### Noun

primate (plural primates)
* (zoology) A mammal of the order Primates, including apes (which include humans), monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, lorisids, and galagos.
    Primates range from lemurs to gorillas.
* (informal) A simian anthropoid; an ape (including human) or monkey.

##### Hyponyms

* See also Thesaurus:primate
* ape
* aye-aye
* capuchin
* douroucouli
* entrina (Indri indri)
* galago
* gibbon
* great ape
* howler monkey
* human, human being
* indri (Indri indri)
* lemur
* loris
* marmoset
* monkey
* night monkey
* owl monkey
* potto
* saki
* simian
* spider monkey
* squirrel monkey
* tamarin
* tarsier
* titi
* uakari
* woolly monkey

##### Derived terms

* super-primate

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

First attested in c. 1275. From Middle English primat(e), from Old French primat (French primat), from Late Latin prīmās, prīmātis (“chief bishop”), substantivisation of prīmās (same as Etymology 1), from prīmus (“prime, first in rank (also as a substantive)”). Compare English primus, of similar derivation and meaning.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/, /ˈpɹaɪmət/

#### Noun

primate (plural primates)
* (Christianity) 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.
* (Christianity) 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.
* (Christianity) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

##### Derived terms

* abbot primate
* primate city
* Primate of All England
* Primate of England
* Primate of the Gauls
* primateship
* primatical
* prince-primate

##### Usage notes

* To disambiguate from sense 1, which is always pronounced /'pɹaɪmeɪt/, sense 2 is often pronounced /ˈpɹaɪmət/ (rhymes with "climate"), but it can also be pronounced the same as sense 1.

##### Related terms

* primatial
* primus

##### Translations
#### See also

* ultimate
* exarch
* patriarch

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pʁi.mat/
* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Noun

primate m (plural primates)
* primate (mammal)

### See also

* primat m
* primauté
* primatie

### Further reading

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

### Anagrams

* empirât, trempai

## Galician
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pɾiˈmate/ [pɾiˈma.t̪ɪ]
* Rhymes: -ate
* Hyphenation: pri‧ma‧te

### Noun

primate m (plural primates)
* primate (animal)

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /priˈma.te/
* Rhymes: -ate
* Hyphenation: pri‧mà‧te

### Noun

primate m (plural primati)
* primate (ecclesiastical title)

#### Related terms

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

### Anagrams

* impetra, tempari, temprai

## Serbo-Croatian
### Verb

primate (Cyrillic spelling примате)
* second-person plural present of primati

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pɾiˈmate/ [pɾiˈma.t̪e]
* Rhymes: -ate
* Syllabification: pri‧ma‧te

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

primate m (plural primates)
* primate (animal)

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

primate
* second-person singular voseo imperative of primar combined with te

### Further reading

* “primate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10