'primality' originates from English formation using the adjective 'primal' plus the noun-forming suffix '-ity', ultimately tracing back to Latin, specifically the word 'primus', where 'prim-' meant 'first'.

'primality' changed from the adjective 'primal' (from Medieval Latin 'primalis') combined with the noun-forming suffix '-ity' (from Latin '-itas'), and eventually became the modern English noun 'primality'.

Initially, related forms meant 'first' or 'firstness' (from Latin 'primus'), and over time the modern English noun 'primality' came to mean both 'the state of being primal' and, in mathematics, 'the property of being a prime number'.