elementary

elementary

English

Alternative forms

• elementar (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /(ˌ)ɛlɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: ĕl'ĭ-mĕn′tə-rē, -trē, IPA^(key): /ˌɛlɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/
• Rhymes: -ɛntəɹi, -ɛntɹi
• Hyphenation: el‧e‧men‧ta‧ry

Adjective

elementary (comparative more elementary, superlative most elementary)

1. Relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something.
2. Relating to an elementary school.
3. (physics) Relating to a subatomic particle.
   • 2012 March 1, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 146:

     The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.

4. (archaic) Sublunary; not celestial; belonging to the sublunary sphere, to which the four classical elements (earth, air, fire and water) were confined; composed of or pertaining to these four elements.

Derived terms

• elementary algebra
• elementary charge
• elementary equivalence
• elementary function
• elementary matrix
• elementary particle
• elementary school
• elementary schooler
• elementary substance
• elementary symmetric polynomial
• elementary topos
• nonelementary

 

Translations

relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something

Belarusian: элемэнта́рны (eljementárny) Bulgarian: елемента́рен (bg) (elementáren) Chinese: Mandarin: 基本 (zh) (jīběn) Danish: elementær Dutch: elementair (nl) Esperanto: elementa (eo) Finnish: perus- (fi), alkeis- (fi), alkeellinen (fi) French: élémentaire (fr) German: elementar (de) Greek: στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis) Italian: elementare (it) Japanese: 基本的な (ja) (きほんてきな, kihonteki na) Korean: 기본적 (ko) (gibonjeok) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سەرەتایی‎ (seretayî) Northern Kurdish: seretayî (ku) Latin: elementārius Maori: whakapū Norwegian: enkelt (no) Bokmål: elementær, grunnleggende (no) Nynorsk: elementær, grunnleggande, grunnleggjande Plautdietsch: eefach Polish: podstawowy (pl) m, elementarny (pl) m Portuguese: elementar (pt) Romanian: elementar (ro) m or n, fundamental (ro) m or n Russian: элемента́рный (ru) (elementárnyj) Scottish Gaelic: sìmplidh Spanish: elemental (es) Swedish: grundlig (sv), grundläggande (sv), elementär (sv), basal (sv) Ukrainian: елемента́рний (elementárnyj)

relating to an elementary school

Bulgarian: нача́лен (bg) (načálen) Chinese: Mandarin: 小學的／小学的 (zh) (xiǎoxué de) Danish: folkeskole- Finnish: alkeis- (fi) Greek: στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis) Italian: elementare (it) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سەرەتایی‎ (seretayî) Polish: podstawowy (pl) m Portuguese: fundamental (pt) Romanian: elementară f (școală) Russian: нача́льный (ru) (načálʹnyj) Spanish: primaria (es)

relating to a subatomic particle

Bulgarian: елемента́рен (bg) (elementáren) Danish: elementar- Finnish: alkeis- (fi) Greek: στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis) Italian: elementare (it) Polish: elementarny (pl) m Portuguese: elementar (pt) Romanian: elementar (ro) m or n Russian: элемента́рный (ru) (elementárnyj) Spanish: elemental (es)

Noun

elementary (plural elementaries)

1. An elementary school
2. (mythology, mysticism) A supernatural being which is associated with the elements.
   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 45:

     The demon (or elementary) of the South-West wind was particularly dreaded, as being the gini of fever and madness.

   • 2003, H P Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky, volume 1:

     […] the spiritual man is either translated like Enoch and Elias to the higher state, or falls down lower than an elementary again […]

   • 2007, Gerald Massey, The Natural Genesis, page 332:

     But, in Africa these became definite in their Egyptian Types, by means of which we can follow their development from the elementaries of Chaos and Space into Celestial Intelligencers […]

References

• “elementary”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.