Primer (textbook)

* For the firearms term, see primer (ammunition).

A primer is a small textbook for teaching children to read. The term is used tongue-in-cheek in the title of introductory books on scientific subjects, like Arthur Stafford Hathaway's classic "A Primer on Quaternions".

The term derives from the Latin primarium, which was used in Anglo-French to describe a prayerbook for laypersons.