rudiment

English

Etymology

From Old French rudiment, from Latin rudimentum (“a first attempt, a beginning”), plural rudimenta (“the elements”), from rudis (“rude”); see rude. By surface analysis, rude +‎ -i- +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹuːdɪmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ru‧di‧ment

Noun

rudiment (plural rudiments)

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

   Synonyms: basics, fundamentals

   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.

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 468:

     Despite the assassination of Stolypin in 1911, for some years Russia was clearly moving in the direction of a bourgeois state with the rudiments of a constitutional monarchy.

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.

Hypernyms

• (biology): vestigiality

Derived terms

• rudimental
• rudimentary

Related terms

• erudite

Translations

fundamental principle or skill

Bulgarian: начала (bg) n pl (načala) Chinese: Mandarin: 基本原理 (jīběn yuánlǐ) Czech: základ (cs) m Esperanto: bazo Finnish: alkeet (fi) pl, perusteet (fi) French: rudiment (fr) m German: Grundlage (de), Rudiment (de) n Irish: aibítir (ga) f, buntús m, uraiceacht m Japanese: 基本原理 (きほんげんり, kihon genri) Latin: rudimentum n Persian: مبادی (fa) (mabâdi) Russian: осно́вы (ru) f pl (osnóvy) Spanish: rudimento (es) m

sthg. in undeveloped form

Finnish: perusajatus, peruskuvio French: rudiment (fr) m German: Ansatz (de) m Spanish: rudimento (es) m

biology: body part that has no function left

Bulgarian: рудиментарен орган m (rudimentaren organ) Dutch: rudiment (nl) n Finnish: surkastuma (fi), rudimentti (fi) French: rudiment (fr) m German: Überbleibsel (de) n Russian: рудиме́нт (ru) m (rudimént) Spanish: rudimento (es) m

music: basic drum pattern

Finnish: rudimentti (fi)

Further reading

• “rudiment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “rudiment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “rudiment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Verb

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.

Anagrams

• unmitred

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rudīmentum.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

rudiment m (plural rudiments)

1. rudiment (fundamental principle)

Related terms

• rudimentari

Further reading

• “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.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “rudiment”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian рудимент (rudiment).

Noun

rudiment

1. rudiment

Declension

Declension of rudiment

	singular	plural
nominative	rudiment	rudimentler
genitive	rudimentniñ	rudimentlerniñ
dative	rudimentke	rudimentlerge
accusative	rudimentni	rudimentlerni
locative	rudimentte	rudimentlerde
ablative	rudimentten	rudimentlerden

References

• “rudiment”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

French

Etymology

From Latin rudimentum.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

rudiment m (plural rudiments)

1. rudiment (fundamental principle)

Related terms

• rudimentaire

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French rudiment, from Latin rudimentum.

Noun

rudiment n (plural rudimente)

1. rudiment

Declension

	singular	plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	rudiment	rudimentul	rudimente	rudimentele
genitive-dative	rudiment	rudimentului	rudimente	rudimentelor
vocative	rudimentule	rudimentelor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Rudiment, from Latin rudīmentum.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

rudìment m inan (Cyrillic spelling рудѝмент)

1. rudiment

Declension

Declension of rudiment

	singular	plural
nominative	rudìment	rudimenti
genitive	rudimenta	rudìmenātā
dative	rudimentu	rudimentima
accusative	rudiment	rudimente
vocative	rudimente	rudimenti
locative	rudimentu	rudimentima
instrumental	rudimentom	rudimentima

References

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