primate

Meaning

Noun

• A mammal of the order Primates, including simians and prosimians.
• A simian anthropoid; an ape, human or monkey.
• In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription.
• In the Orthodox Church, the presiding bishop of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or region. Usually, the expression primate refers to the first hierarch of an autocephalous or autonomous Orthodox church. Less often, it is used to refer to the ruling bishop of an archdiocese or diocese.
• In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• ape
• aye-aye
• capuchin
• douroucouli
• entrina (Indri indri)
• galago
• gibbon
• great ape
• howler monkey
• human, human being
• indri (Indri indri)
• lemur
• loris
• marmoset
• monkey
• night monkey
• owl monkey
• potto
• saki
• simian
• spider monkey
• squirrel monkey
• tamarin
• tarsier
• titi
• uakari
• woolly monkey

Origin

• From French primate , from Latin primas ("one of the first, chief, excellent, noble"). So named due to the belief that primates are the “highest” order of mammals/animals.
• From Middle English primate, primat, from Old French primat, from a noun use of Latin primat-, from primas, alternative form of primus. Compare English primus, of similar derivation and meaning.