Phrase guide

primary school

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈpɹaɪməɹi skuːl/
  • /ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹi-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A formal, obligatory kind of school that typically begins with nursery school or first grade and ends at fifth or sixth grade.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, India, New-Zealand, Philippines, UK, countable, sometimes, uncountable

Topics: education

Examples

  • The child's mother was tearful as he boarded the bus for his first day of primary school.
  • My primary school is a good place to study.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: elementary school, grade school

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a school for young children; usually the first 6 or 8 grades

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grade school, grammar school, elementary school

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: school

Narrower terms: junior school, infant school

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

88 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: laerskool — first formal, obligatory school
  • Arabic: مَدْرَسَة اَلاِبْتِدَائِيَّة (madrasa l-ibtidāʔiyya) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Azerbaijani: ibtidai məktəb — first formal, obligatory school
  • Bulgarian: начално училище (načalno učilište) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Bulgarian: начално (načalno) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Bulgarian: основно училище (osnovno učilište) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Bulgarian: основно (osnovno) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Burmese: မူလတန်း (mula.tan:) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小學 /小学 (xiǎoxué) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Crimean Tatar: başlanğıç mektep — first formal, obligatory school
  • Crimean Tatar: iptidaiy mektep — first formal, obligatory school
  • Czech: základní škola (not one-to-one) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Danish: grundskole — first formal, obligatory school
  • Danish: underskole — first formal, obligatory school
  • Dutch: basisschool — first formal, obligatory school
  • Dutch: lagere school — first formal, obligatory school
  • Esperanto: elementa lernejo — first formal, obligatory school
  • Esperanto: bazlernejo — first formal, obligatory school
  • Finnish: peruskoulu — first formal, obligatory school
  • Finnish: ala-aste — first formal, obligatory school
  • Finnish: alakoulu — first formal, obligatory school
  • French: école primaire — first formal, obligatory school
  • German: Grundschule — first formal, obligatory school
  • German: Volksschule — first formal, obligatory school
  • Greek: δημοτικό σχολείο (dimotikó scholeío) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Hausa: firamare — first formal, obligatory school
  • Hebrew: בֵּית סֵפֶר יְסוֹדִי (bet séfer ysodí) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Hebrew: בֵּית סֵפֶר עֲמָמִי (bet séfer 'amamí) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Hindi: प्राथमिक विद्यालय (prāthmik vidyālay) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Hindi: प्राइमरी स्कूल (prāimrī skūl) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Hungarian: általános iskola — first formal, obligatory school
  • Icelandic: grunnskóli — first formal, obligatory school
  • Icelandic: barnaskóli — first formal, obligatory school
  • Indonesian: sekolah dasar — first formal, obligatory school
  • Irish: bunscoil — first formal, obligatory school
  • Italian: scuola elementare — first formal, obligatory school
  • Japanese: 小学校 (shōgakkō) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Khmer: សាលាបឋម (sala bak thom) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Korean: 초등학교 (chodeunghakgyo) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Korean: 국민학교 (gungminhakgyo) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Korean: 소학교 (sohakgyo) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Central Kurdish: مەکتەبی سەرەتایی (mektebî seretayî) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Latin: ludus litterarius — first formal, obligatory school
  • Latin: educatio primaria — first formal, obligatory school
  • Latvian: sākumskola — first formal, obligatory school
  • Latvian: pamatskola — first formal, obligatory school
  • Lithuanian: pradinė mokykla — first formal, obligatory school
  • : ᦷᦣᧂᦵᦣᧃᦓᦾᧉ (honghennoay2) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Luxembourgish: Primärschoul — first formal, obligatory school
  • Luxembourgish: Grondschoul — first formal, obligatory school
  • Macedonian: основно училиште (osnovno učilište) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Macedonian: осмоле́тка (osmolétka) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Macedonian: деветоле́тка (devetolétka) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Malay: sekolah rendah — first formal, obligatory school
  • Manchu: ᠠᠵᡳᡤᡝ ᡨᠠᠴᡳᡴᡡ (ajige tacikū) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Marathi: प्राथमिक शाळा (prāthamika śāḷā) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Norwegian Bokmål: barneskole — first formal, obligatory school
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: barneskole — first formal, obligatory school
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: barneskule — first formal, obligatory school
  • Persian: دبستان (dabestân) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Polish: szkoła podstawowa — first formal, obligatory school
  • Polish: podstawówka — first formal, obligatory school
  • Portuguese: primária — first formal, obligatory school
  • Romanian: școală primară — first formal, obligatory school
  • Romanian: școală elementară — first formal, obligatory school
  • Russian: семиле́тка (semilétka) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Russian: нача́льная шко́ла (načálʹnaja škóla) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Scots: primary schuil — first formal, obligatory school
  • Scottish Gaelic: bun-sgoil — first formal, obligatory school
  • Slovak: základná škola — first formal, obligatory school
  • Slovak: prvý stupeň základnej školy — first formal, obligatory school
  • Slovene: osnovna šola — first formal, obligatory school
  • Spanish: primaria — first formal, obligatory school
  • Swedish: grundskola — first formal, obligatory school
  • Swedish: lågstadie — first formal, obligatory school
  • Tagalog: mababang paaralan — first formal, obligatory school
  • Tagalog: paaralang elementarya — first formal, obligatory school
  • Tamil: தொடக்கப் பள்ளி (toṭakkap paḷḷi) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Tamil: துவக்கப் பள்ளி (tuvakkap paḷḷi) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Thai: ประถมศึกษา (bprà-tǒm-sʉ̀k-sǎa) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Ukrainian: початкова школа (počatkova škola) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Vietnamese: trường tiểu học — first formal, obligatory school
  • Volapük: pöpajul — first formal, obligatory school
  • Volapük: donajul — first formal, obligatory school
  • Welsh: ysgol gynradd — first formal, obligatory school
  • Yiddish: פֿאָלקשול (folkshul) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Yiddish: פֿאָלקסשול (folksshul) — first formal, obligatory school
  • Zhuang: siujyoz — first formal, obligatory school