primate

Definitions

From Latin prīmās, prīmāt-, 'of the first rank.' The church sense came first: a primate is a bishop of the first rank. Later, when naturalists ranked the animal kingdom, they placed apes and monkeys at the top — the order Primates, the 'first/highest' animals, which includes humans.

Why It Means This

Two unrelated-looking meanings share one root idea: 'first rank.' A primate (bishop) is the highest-ranking churchman of a country; a primate (animal) belongs to the order that 18th-century naturalist Linnaeus named Primates because he ranked it at the top of the animal world. Same 'first/highest' logic, two very different fields.

Common Collocations

• 1.non-human primate非人类灵长动物
• 2.primate research灵长类研究
• 3.primate conservation灵长类保护
• 4.primate species灵长类物种

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Chimpanzees are the primates most closely related to humans.

• 2.

  The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the Church of England.