'nonprimate' originates from English word-formation combining the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') and the noun 'primate' (from Latin 'primatus', from 'primus' meaning 'first').

'primate' developed from Late Latin 'primatus' (via Old French 'primat'), ultimately from Latin 'primus' meaning 'first'; the negative prefix 'non-' comes from Latin 'non' used in English compounds to mean 'not'. These elements combined in modern English to form 'nonprimate'.

Initially, 'primate' could refer to a principal bishop and later came to denote members of the biological order Primates; 'nonprimate' has been formed in modern English to mean 'not a primate' and is used straightforwardly to indicate animals outside that order.