First

Adjective

 * 1) Having no predecessor. The ordinal number corresponding to one.
 * 2) * 1784: William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., P REFACE
 * T HE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others ; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.

Adverb

 * 1) Before anything else; firstly.

Noun

 * 1)   The person or thing in the first position.
 * He was the first to complete the course.
 * 1)  The first gear of an engine.
 * 2)  Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
 * This is a first. For once he has nothing to say.
 * 1)  first base
 * There was a close play at first.
 * 1)  A first-class honours degree.
 * 2)  A first-edition copy of some publication.

Thesaurus
ab initio, ab ovo, aborigine, ahead, alpha, antecedent, anterior, anticipatory, arch, at first, at the start, banner, basic, before, before everything, beforehand, beginning, blue ribbon, breaking-in, by choice, by election, by vote, capital, cardinal, central, champion, chief, chiefly, ci-devant, commencement, crowning, dominant, earlier, earliest, early, elder, elementary, eminent, essential, exordial, first and foremost, first blush, first glance, first impression, first inning, first lap, first move, first place, first round, first sight, first stage, first step, first thing, firstly, focal, fore, foregoing, forehand, foremost, former, forward, from the beginning, front, frontal, fundamental, gambit, great, head, heading, headmost, hegemonic, highest, in advance, in front, in preference, in the beginning, in the forefront, in the foreground, in the front, in the lead, inaugural, inception, initial, initially, initiative, initiatory, key, le premier pas, leading, least, magisterial, maiden, main, mainly, master, measly, older, oldest, opening, opening move, original, originally, outset, outstanding, overruling, paramount, pioneer, precedent, preceding, precessional, precurrent, precursory, predominant, preeminent, preexistent, prefatory, preferably, preliminary, preludial, prelusive, premier, preparatory, preponderant, prevailing, prevenient, previous, primal, primarily, primary, prime, primitiveness, primitivity, primo, primogenial, primordial, principal, principally, prior, pristine, proemial, propaedeutic, ranking, rather, rather than, ruling, senior, slight, slightest, slim, smallest, sooner, sooner than, sovereign, star, start, stellar, supereminent, supreme, to the fore, to the front, topflight, trifling, triumph, trivial, up ahead, victory, warming-up, win

Alternative forms

 * firſt, firste

Etymology
From fyrst:, from.

Alternative forms

 * 1st, 1st; I

Adjective

 * Albanian: parë
 * American Sign Language:
 * Arabic:, اولى
 * Egyptian Arabic:
 * Armenian:
 * Basque: lehenengo
 * Belarusian: першы
 * Bengali: প্রথম
 * Bosnian:
 * Breton: kentañ
 * Catalan:
 * Chamicuro:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, 最初
 * Crimean Tatar: birinci, sipti
 * Czech: první
 * Danish:
 * Dutch: eerst
 * Esperanto:
 * Estonian:
 * Finnish:
 * French: premier ; -unième (used in compounds)
 * German: erster, erste
 * Greek:
 * Guaraní: ypy
 * Haitian Creole:
 * Hebrew:
 * Hindi:
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido: unesma
 * Indonesian: pertama, perdana ?, kesatu
 * Interlingua: prime
 * Irish: aonú ; céad
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 第一, 最初, 初めて, 初, 一番目


 * Korean: 첫째
 * Kurdish: یه‌که‌م
 * Latgalian: ,
 * Latin:
 * Latvian: pirmais, pirmā
 * Lithuanian: ,
 * Livonian: ežmi
 * Macedonian: прв (prv)
 * Maltese: l-ewwel
 * Manchu: (uju), (emuci)
 * Manx: kied, yn chied
 * Nahuatl: achtoquetl
 * Navajo:
 * Norwegian:
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian: prim
 * Russian:
 * Sanskrit: प्रथम
 * Scottish Gaelic: ,
 * Sindhi: ,
 * Slovak: prvý
 * Slovene: prvi
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: förste (in front of a noun designating a male), första (1:a) (in front of other nouns), först (if no noun after)
 * Tatar:
 * Telugu: ఒకటవ, మొదటి
 * Tupinambá: ypy
 * Turkish: birinci, ilk
 * Ukrainian: перший
 * Urdu: پہلا
 * Uyghur: بىرىنچى
 * Vietnamese:, đầu tiên
 * Welsh: cyntaf
 * West Frisian: earst, foarst

Adverb

 * Arabic: أولا
 * Armenian:
 * Basque: aurreneko
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, , ,
 * Danish:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French: avant tout, en premier lieu, ,  ,
 * German: erstens, an erster Stelle


 * Greek: ,
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese:, ,  ,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian:, ,
 * Scottish Gaelic:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish: ilk

Noun

 * Arabic:
 * Armenian:
 * Basque: lehenengo
 * Belarusian: першы
 * Czech: první
 * Danish: den første, den forreste
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German: Erste
 * Greek: πρώτος
 * Hungarian:


 * Interlingua: primo
 * Italian:
 * Kurdish: یه‌که‌م
 * Portuguese: primeiro
 * Romanian: primul
 * Russian: первый
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish: birinci, ilk
 * Ukrainian: перший
 * Vietnamese:


 * Finnish:
 * French:


 * Turkish: ilk

Derived terms

 * feet first
 * firstborn
 * first-class
 * first gear
 * first imperative


 * first of all
 * first place
 * first things first
 * first up

Anagrams

 * frits
 * rifts