primordial
adjective
Sir Winston Churchill
Did you know?
The history of "primordial" began when the Latin words primus (meaning "first") and "ordiri" (meaning "to begin") came together to form "primordium," the Latin word for "origin." When it entered English in the 14th century, "primordial" was used in the general sense "primeval." Early on, there were hints that "primordial" would lend itself well to discussions of the earth's origins. Take, for instance, this passage from a 1398 translation of an encyclopedia called On the Properties of Things: "The virtu of God made primordial mater, in the whiche as it were in massy thinge the foure elementis were . . . nought distinguishd." Nowadays, primordial matter is often referred to in evolutionary theory as "primordial soup," a mixture of organic molecules from which life on earth originated.
Examples of primordial in a Sentence
ArsTechnica, 16 Apr. 2025
George Harrison may be thought of as a holy man, but the primordial ooze his career emerges from is made of cars.
—Kaleb Horton, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2025
This project aims to provide vital insights into how stars, gas and black holes evolved within primordial galaxies when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was very young.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 20 Mar. 2025
The company’s project involved recovering DNA of the extinct dire wolf from a fossil tooth found in Idaho and an ear bone in Ohio, parts of the animal’s primordial habitat, but the key was its editing of a donor genome of the gray wolf to alter 14 of its genes.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for primordial
Cite this Entry
“Primordial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primordial. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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primordial
adjective
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