Primer may refer to:

Arts, entertainment, and media

Films

* ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour

Literature

Primer (textbook) A primer (in this sense usually pronounced , sometimes , usually the latter in modern British English) is a first textbook for teaching of reading, such as an alphabet book or basal reader. The word also is used more broadly to refer to any book t ...

, a textbook used in primary education to teach the alphabet and other basic subjects *

Primer (prayer book) A primer ( la, primarium, also spelled prymer) is the name for a variety of devotional prayer books that originated among educated medieval laity in the 14th century, particularly in England. While the contents of primers have varied dependent on ...

, a common name for English prayer books used from the 13th to 16th centuries * ''

The New England Primer ''The New England Primer'' was the first reading primer designed for the American colonies. It became the most successful educational textbook published in 17th-century colonial United States and it became the foundation of most schooling befor ...

'' (1688), a Puritan book from Colonial America with morality-themed rhymes

Music

* ''Primer'' (album), a 1995 music album by the musical group Rockapella *

Primer 55 Primer 55 was an American nu metal band which formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1997. The name originated from the combination of Primer, meaning "something that's unfinished", and 55, which refers to Interstate 55, "the road that drugs run on to ...

, an American alternative metal band * "The Primer", a song from the 2005 album ''

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

'' by Between the Buried and Me

Firearms

Primer (firearms) In firearms and artillery, the primer () is the chemical and/or device responsible for initiating the propellant combustion that will push the projectiles out of the gun barrel. In early black powder guns such as muzzleloaders, the primer was esse ...

, a firearm powder charge-ignition mechanism **

Centerfire ammunition Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rimf ...

, Boxer or Berdan primers used in modern centerfire cartridges ** Detonator, a small explosive device also known as an explosive primer or blasting cap **

Friction primer A friction primer is a device to initiate the firing of muzzle-loading cannon. Each friction primer consists of a copper tube filled with gunpowder. The tube fits into the cannon touch hole burying its lower end in the gunpowder chamber. The top end ...

, an ignition device for muzzle-loading cannon **

Percussion cap The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...

, a gunpowder ignition device for 19th century muzzle-loading firearms and modern replicas

Coatings

Primer (cosmetics) A cosmetic primer is a cream applied before another cosmetic to improve coverage and lengthen the amount of time the cosmetic lasts on the face. Variations There are different kinds of cosmetic primers such as foundation primer, eyelid primer, ...

, a cream or lotion applied before another to improve coverage and persistence *

Primer (paint) A primer () or undercoat is a preparatory coating put on materials before painting. Priming ensures better adhesion of paint to the surface, increases paint durability, and provides additional protection for the material being painted. Composit ...

, a coating applied to a surface to prepare it for paint or another coating or adhesive

Fonts

Great primer Great primer is a large font size (18 points) that was used in the printing of English Bibles and other large-format books, leading to its other name of ''Bible Text''. The largest size ever (or at least up to about 1843) used in England for print ...

, a font size of 18 points *

Long primer In typography, the point is the smallest unit of measure. It is used for measuring font size, leading, and other items on a printed page. The size of the point has varied throughout printing's history. Since the 18th century, the size of a poin ...

, a font size between bourgeois and small pica *

Primer (typeface) Rudolph Ruzicka (29 June 1883 – 20 July 1978) was a Czech American wood engraver, etcher, illustrator, typeface designer, and book designer. Ruzicka designed typefaces and wood engraving illustrations for Daniel Berkeley Updike's Merrymount Pr ...

People

Sylvester Primer Sylvester Primer (1842–1912) was an American linguist and philologist known for his pioneering work in 1887 on the dialect of the European-American residents of Charleston, South Carolina. He published language studies in both English and Ger ...

(1842–1912), American linguist and philologist *

John Primer John Primer (born March 5, 1945, Camden, Mississippi, United States) is an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and guitarist who played behind Junior Wells in the house band at Theresa's Lounge and as a member of the bands of Will ...

(born 1945), American Chicago singer and guitarist

Software

Primer (app) Google Primer is a free mobile application by Google, designed to teach digital marketing and business skills to small and medium business owners, startups, and job seekers using 5-minute interactive lessons. It is a part of Google'Grow with Goo ...

, free mobile application by Google *

Primer-E Primer Plymouth Routines In Multivariate Ecological Research (PRIMER) is a statistical package that is a collection of specialist univariate, multivariate, and graphical routines for analyzing species sampling data for community ecology. Types of data an ...

, software for statistical analysis of ecological data

Other uses

Primer (gasoline engine) A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...

, a device on some petrol engines used to prime the engine with gasoline before starting it *

Primer (molecular biology) Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a te ...

, a nucleic acid strand (or related molecule) that serves as a starting point for replication *

Money-creation primer Money creation, or money issuance, is the process by which the money supply of a country, or of an economic or monetary region,Such as the Eurozone or ECCAS is increased. In most modern economies, money creation is controlled by the central bank ...

Trap primer A trap primer (or trap seal primer) is a plumbing device or valve that adds water to traps. The water seals in traps are needed to prevent sewer gases from entering buildings, but because this water is exposed to the air, it is subject to evapor ...

, a plumbing device or valve that adds water to traps