rudiment

ru·di·ment

UK/ˈɹuːdɪmənt/ US/ˈrudɪmʌnt/ uncommon

noun

the elementary stages of any subject (usually plural)

“he mastered only the rudiments of geometry”

Synonyms

first rudiment
first principle
alphabet
ABC
ABC's
ABCs

the remains of a body part that was functional at an earlier stage of life

“Meckel”

Origin

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.

Related words

Word family

rudimentary
rudiments

Broader terms

body part
fundamentals

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.