Dictionary

primordium en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prīmōrdium.

Meanings

1. An aggregation of cells that is the first stage in the development of an organ.
   • In tomato, for example, the first sepal primordium is formed as an outgrowth at the periphery of the apex and the subsequent sepal primordia are initiated in a helical fashion at an angle of approximately 137° from the previous one. 2017, Taylor A. Steeves, Vipen K. Sawhney, Essentials of Developmental Plant Anatomy, Oxford University Press, page 29:
2. A primordial, original condition or event.
   • It is thus vain to hope that the history of the primordia can be reduced to the progress of archeological investigation. 1997 [1991], Alexandre Grandazzi, translated by Jane Marie Todd, The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History, →ISBN, page 33:
   • [Joseph Smith] did not think of himself as going back to a primordium of true Christianity, as the Puritans did. In his view, there never was a golden age when religion flourished to perfection. 2008, Richard L. Bushman, Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction, →ISBN, page 5:
   • Attempts have been made by historians of religion to distinguish between mythic orientations in time concerned with the repetition of a primordium and those concerned with the anticipation of an eschaton. 2003, David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 106:

Forms

Relateds

exord · primordial · exordium

Synonyms

anlage · proton

Translations (6)

id bakal (first stage of development of an organ) · es primordio (first stage of development of an organ) · pl zawiązek (first stage of development of an organ) · pt primórdio (first stage of development of an organ) · gl primordio (first stage of development of an organ) · fi alkio (first stage of development of an organ)