Premier or Premiere? One Is a Leader, One Is a First Night
Premier means first or foremost, and names a head of government. Premiere with a final e is a first performance.
Premier means first in rank, and as a noun it names a head of government — a prime minister, or the leader of a state or province. Add a final *e* and you get *premiere*, the first public performance of a film or play. Same French root, different jobs, and the spelling matters.
- First in importance. *The premier league.*
- A head of government. *The Chinese premier.*
- Premiere — a first performance. *The film's premiere.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | premier | The premier event. |
| Noun | premier | The state premier. |
| Noun | premiere | A world premiere. |
| Verb | premiere | The film premieres tonight. |
| Related | primary | Primary concern. |
How it is used in a sentence
- It is the country's premier research institute.Adjective: leading.
- The premier addressed the assembly.Head of government.
- The premiere is on the fifteenth.First performance.
Words meaning first
- Premier — first in rank
- Primary — first in order or importance
- Prime — of the best quality, or the first
- Principal — chief, and not the same as principle
- Foremost — most prominent
From French *premier*, first, from Latin *primarius*, of the first rank, from *primus*, first. *Premiere* is the feminine form, used with the feminine French noun for a performance.
Premier or prime minister?
They often mean the same. Some countries use premier for the head of government, and in federal systems it may name the head of a state or province.
Premier or premiere?
Premier is the adjective and the political title. Premiere with an e is the first performance.