Premier or premiere?
premier is an adjective meaning “Foremost; first or highest in quality or degree”; premiere is a noun meaning “The first episode of a television show or a particular season of that show”. Use premier as an adjective and premiere as a noun (premier is also a noun: “The prime minister”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) premier is about 2.5 times as common as premiere.
What is the difference between premier and premiere?
| premier | premiere | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Foremost; first or highest in quality or degree Most ancient; first to hold a specified status UKThe prime minister | The first showing of a film, play or other form of entertainment, often held as a special event with celebrity guests The first episode of a television show or a particular season of that show Of a film or play, to play for the first time |
| Example | The composer invited all his friends when they premiered the movie he orchestrated, we got to see it before anyone but the crew | The new film premieres this weekend |
| Forms | none | premières premieres |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɹɛm.iː.ə/ /ˈpɹɛm.jə/ /pɹɪˈmɪəɹ/ | /pɹəˈmɪɚ/ /pɹɪ-/ /-ˈmiɚ/ |
| In writing | 36 times per million words | 14 times per million words |
Sources: premier and premiere in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of premier and premiere
premier
- 1
Foremost; first or highest in quality or degree
- 2
UKThe prime minister
- 3
To perform, display or exhibit for the first time
The composer invited all his friends when they premiered the movie he orchestrated, we got to see it before anyone but the crew
- 4
Most ancient; first to hold a specified status
- 5
AustraliaCanadaUKThe leader of a state or provincial government and cabinet
- 6
To govern in the role of premier
- 7
The government leader in a legislative congress or leader of a government-level administrative body; the head of government
- 8
slangThe first lieutenant or other second-in-command officer of a ship
premiere
- 1
Alternative spelling of premiere
- 2
Alternative spelling of premiere
- 3
The first showing of a film, play or other form of entertainment, often held as a special event with celebrity guests
- 4
Of a film or play, to play for the first time
The new film premieres this weekend
- 5
The first episode of a television show or a particular season of that show
- 6
To present a film or play for the first time
The local theatre will premiere its latest play this week
- 7
In a series of narrative works, the installment that is chronologically set first
- 8
The leading woman of a group, especially in a theatrical cast
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, premier or premiere?
premier appears 36 times per million words; premiere 14 times per million words.
premier 36 times per million wordspremiere 14 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search premier vs premiere?
“premier vs premiere” is searched about 4,400 times a month on Google and 190 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“premiere vs premier”, “premier or premiere”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.