rudiment

From Old French, from Latin rudimentum (“a first attempt, a beginning”), plural rudimenta (“the elements”), from rudis (“rude”); see rude.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹuːdɪmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

rudiment (plural rudiments)

1. (often in the plural) A fundamental principle or skill, especially in a field of learning.

   We'll be learning the rudiments of thermodynamics next week.

   • 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]:

     This boy is forest-born, / And hath been tutored in the rudiments / Of many desperate studies.

   • 1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 26:

     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.

2. (often in the plural) A form that lacks full or complex development.

   I have the rudiments of an escape plan.

   • 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:

     But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit / Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes / The monarchies of the earth.

   • a. 1865, Isaac Taylor, Ornamentation of Nature:

     The single leaf is the rudiment of beauty in landscape.

3. (biology) A body part that no longer has a function
4. (music) In percussion, one of a selection of basic drum patterns learned as an exercise.
   • 2014, Damien Chazelle, Whiplash, spoken by Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons):

     Show me your rudiments.

• (biology): vestigiality

• rudimental
• rudimentary

• erudite

• “rudiment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “rudiment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “rudiment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

rudiment (third-person singular simple present rudiments, present participle rudimenting, simple past and past participle rudimented)

1. (transitive) To ground; to settle in first principles.

• unmitred

Borrowed from Latin rudīmentum.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ru.ðiˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ru.ðiˈment]

rudiment m (plural rudiments)

1. rudiment (fundamental principle)

• rudimentari

• “rudiment”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “rudiment”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “rudiment” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “rudiment” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Russian рудимент (rudiment).

rudiment

1. rudiment

• “rudiment”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

From Latin rudimentum.

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

rudiment m (plural rudiments)

1. rudiment (fundamental principle)

• rudimentaire

• “rudiment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from French rudiment, from Latin rudimentum.

rudiment n (plural rudimente)

1. rudiment

Borrowed from German Rudiment, from Latin rudīmentum.

• IPA^(key): /rudǐment/
• Hyphenation: ru‧di‧ment

rudìment m inan (Cyrillic spelling рудѝмент)

1. rudiment

• “rudiment”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026