ˈrüdəmənt noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin rudimentum first attempt, beginning, from rudis raw, rough, rude + -mentum -ment — more at rude
1.
a. : a first principle : a basic element
my tactics missed a rudiment — Emily Dickinson
the single leaf is the rudiment of beauty in the landscape — Isaac Taylor
— usually used in plural
assume that the judges know the rudiments of law — B.N.Cardozo
b. rudiments plural : fundamental skills taught or learned (as in an elementary school)
carefully grounded in the rudiments — W.B.Parker
acquired the mere rudiments of a common-school education — Edna Yost
2.
a. : something that is unformed or undeveloped : beginning
must admit he had the rudiment of decency — Christopher Morley
— usually used in plural
experiments … which seem to show the rudiments of a human type of intelligence in the chimpanzee — R.W.Murray
the rudiments of a plan
gave himself the rudiments of a wash — Maurice Walsh
rudiments of a headache
b. : a body part or organ so deficient in size or in both size and structure as to entirely prevent its performing its normal function:
(1) : an organ or part just beginning to develop : anlage
(2) : one whose development has been arrested at an early stage
(3) : the remains of a part functional only in an earlier stage of the same individual or in his ancestors : vestige