Primitifs

Primitifs is the masculine plural form of the French adjective primitif, meaning primitive or relating to an early stage. It can also function as a noun meaning “the primitive ones.” The word appears in different domains, where its sense depends on the context.

In anthropology and ethnology, primitifs historically described peoples perceived as living at an earlier stage of cultural development. The term is now considered outdated and often pejorative, and it is generally avoided in scholarly and respectful discourse in favor of more precise terms such as peuples autochtones or sociétés traditionnelles.

In mathematics and computer science, related uses exist with different spellings and nuances. In French, the concept of an antiderivative is described by the feminine noun primitive (plural primitives), rather than primitifs. In computing, French typically uses the phrase types primitifs to refer to the basic data types of a programming language (such as integers, booleans, and characters).

Etymology traces primitifs to Latin primitivus, passing through Old French primitif. The term thereby shares a common root with other words meaning first or earliest, a sense reflected in its various specialized uses across disciplines.