rudiment en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /ˈɹuːdɪmənt/
Etymology
From Old French rudiment, from Latin rudimentum (“a first attempt, a beginning”), plural rudimenta (“the elements”), from rudis (“rude”); see rude. By surface analysis, rude + -i- + -ment.
Meanings
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(in-plural, often) A fundamental principle or skill, especially in a field of learning.
The very emphasis on reading readiness and on the methods employed to teach children the rudiments of reading has meant that the other, the higher, levels of reading have tended to be slighted.
1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 26:We'll be learning the rudiments of thermodynamics next week.
This boy is forest-born, / And hath been tutored in the rudiments / Of many desperate studies.
c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:
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(in-plural, often) A form that lacks full or complex development.
I have the rudiments of an escape plan.
Despite the assassination of Stolypin in 1911, for some years Russia was clearly moving in the direction of a bourgeois state with the rudiments of a constitutional monarchy.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 468:The single leaf is the rudiment of beauty in landscape.
a. 1865, Isaac Taylor, Ornamentation of Nature:But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit / Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes / The monarchies of the earth.
1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
- A body part that no longer has a function
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In percussion, one of a selection of basic drum patterns learned as an exercise.
Show me your rudiments.
2014, Damien Chazelle, Whiplash, spoken by Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons):
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| rudiments | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
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Translations (31)
fr rudiment (sthg. in undeveloped form) · fi surkastuma (biology: body part that has no function left) · fr rudiment (fundamental principle or skill) · es rudimento (sthg. in undeveloped form) · cs základ (fundamental principle or skill) · de Überbleibsel (biology: body part that has no function left) · fr rudiment (biology: body part that has no function left) · bg начала (fundamental principle or skill) · es rudimento (fundamental principle or skill) · fi rudimentti (music: basic drum pattern) · fa مبادی (fundamental principle or skill) · de Ansatz (sthg. in undeveloped form) · ru осно́вы (fundamental principle or skill) · fi peruskuvio (sthg. in undeveloped form) · ga buntús (fundamental principle or skill) · la rudimentum (fundamental principle or skill) · fi rudimentti (biology: body part that has no function left) · ja 基本原理 (fundamental principle or skill) · ga aibítir (fundamental principle or skill) · bg рудиментарен орган (biology: body part that has no function left) · cmn 基本原理 (fundamental principle or skill) · ga uraiceacht (fundamental principle or skill) · fi perusteet (fundamental principle or skill) · eo bazo (fundamental principle or skill) · fi perusajatus (sthg. in undeveloped form) · de Rudiment (fundamental principle or skill) · ru рудиме́нт (biology: body part that has no function left) · fi alkeet (fundamental principle or skill) · nl rudiment (biology: body part that has no function left) · de Grundlage (fundamental principle or skill) · es rudimento (biology: body part that has no function left)