primitive vs simple

primitive

adj
  • Not derived from another of the same type 

  • Of or pertaining to or harking back to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity. 

  • Occurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution. 

  • Crude, obsolete. 

  • Original; primary; radical; not derived. 

  • Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first. 

noun
  • An original or primary word; a word not derived from another, as opposed to derivative. 

  • A simple-minded person. 

  • A data type that is built into the programming language, as opposed to more complex structures. 

  • A basic geometric shape from which more complex shapes can be constructed. 

  • Any of the simplest elements (instructions, statements, etc.) available in a programming language. 

  • A member of a primitive society. 

  • A function whose derivative is a given function; an antiderivative. 

simple

adj
  • Homogenous. 

  • Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound. 

  • Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded. 

  • Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank. 

  • Without ornamentation; plain. 

  • Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward. 

  • Of a group: having no normal subgroup. 

  • Feeble-minded; foolish. 

  • Using steam only once in its cylinders, in contrast to a compound engine, where steam is used more than once in high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders. 

  • Not compound, but possibly lobed. 

  • Uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added. 

noun
  • Part of the apparatus for raising the heddles of a drawloom. 

  • A herbal preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant. 

  • A feast which is not a double or a semidouble. 

  • A drawloom. 

  • A simple or atomic proposition. 

How often have the words primitive and simple occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )