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PlainSpell

prime

/pɹaɪ̯m/adjective, noun, verb

prime is spelled P-R-I-M-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, prime means “First in importance, degree, or rank” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in prime?

Letters5: P-R-I-M-E
Syllables1
In writing65 times per million words; the 1,636th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is prime?

Prime appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce prime?

  • /pɹaɪ̯m/

As a noun (“An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a…”): /pɹiːm/.

Prime has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-prime.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-prime2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of prime

  • primer comparative
  • primest superlative
  • primes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • priming participle, present
  • primed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does prime mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    First in importance, degree, or rank.

    Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe.

  2. 2

    First in time, order, or sequence.

    Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals.

  3. 3

    First in excellence, quality, or value.

    This is a prime location for a bookstore.

  4. 4

    Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).

    Thirteen is a prime number.

  5. 5

    Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.

  6. 6

    Having its complement closed under multiplication.

  7. 7

    Such that the annihilator of any nonzero submodule is equal to the annihilator of the whole module.

  8. 8

    Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.

noun

  1. 1

    The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.

  2. 2

    The religious service appointed to this hour.

  3. 3

    obsoleteThe early morning generally.

  4. 4

    archaicThe earliest stage of something.

  5. 5

    The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.

  6. 6

    The chief or best individual or part.

    Give him always of the prime; And but a little at a time.

  7. 7

    Something which is first in importance or rank: a prime defense company, mortgage lender, etc.

    The large primes are struggling to do things the way Anduril does, because they're publicly traded companies with an existing investor class that invested in them to be a certain type of company.

  8. 8

    The first note or tone of a musical scale.

  9. 9

    An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.

verb

  1. 1

    To fill or prepare the chamber of a mechanism for its main work.

    You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump.

  2. 2

    To apply a coat of primer paint to.

    I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo be renewed.

  4. 4

    To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.

  5. 5

    To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed.

  6. 6

    To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).

  7. 7

    To prepare; to make ready.

    The boys are primed for mischief.

  8. 8

    archaicTo instruct beforehand, as for an examination; to coach.

    to prime a witness

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Prime in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpremier (first in time, order, or sequence), de premier ordre, excellent, supérieur (first in excellence, quality, or value), principal (first in importance, degree, or rank), tonique (music: first note or tone of a musical scale)
Germanerste (first in time, order, or sequence), prim- (mathematics: having no factors except itself…), Blütezeit, Blüte, Glanzzeit, Höhe des Schaffens (most active, thriving, or successful stage or…)
Portugueseprimeira, primeiro (first in time, order, or sequence), de primeira (first in excellence, quality, or value), primo (mathematics: having no factors except itself…), auge (most active, thriving, or successful stage or…), princípio (earliest stage)
Spanishprimero (first in time, order, or sequence), primo, primoroso, excelente (first in excellence, quality, or value), principal (first in importance, degree, or rank), primordio (earliest stage)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does prime come from?

From Middle English prime, from Old French prime and its etymon, Latin prīmus (“first”), from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo and primus. The noun sense "apostrophe-like symbol" originates from the fact that the symbol ′ was originally a superscript Roman numeral one.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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