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):

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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.

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, 2025
• “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:

  (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), 2006–2025