Word.ws English Dictionary

esnecy

esnecy noun: a prerogative given to the eldest coparcener (or whomever of the coparceners is so entitled by a court) to choose first after an inheritance is divided.

Noun

esnecy (uncountable)

  1. (UK, historical, obsolete) A prerogative given to the eldest coparcener (or whomever of the coparceners is so entitled by a court) to choose first after an inheritance is divided.
    • When, in the fourteenth century, the estates of the Corbets were divided amongst their co-heirs, Caus Castle, being of the esnecy of the elder sister, passed to the Barons Stafford.1862, Collectanea Archæologica: Communications Made to the British Archaeological Association, volume 1, page 43
    • In 1224 Walter de Besebroc and Joan his wife, Richard de Dunuar (or Dunnewer) and Agnes his wife were parceners of land in (Little) Newton, Northants.,[…]Walter and Joan had the esnecy; the inheritance extended into Rushton and Geddington, Northants.1925, William Farrer, Honors and Knights' Fees, page 261

Origin of esnecy

See eigne.

Questions about esnecy

What does esnecy mean?
Esnecy means a prerogative given to the eldest coparcener (or whomever of the coparceners is so entitled by a court) to choose first after an inheritance is divided.
What part of speech is esnecy?
Esnecy is a noun.

Words near esnecy in the dictionary

  1. Esmond
  2. Esmé
  3. ESN
  4. Esna
  5. esne
  6. esnecy
  7. esnes
  8. ESnet
  9. ESNs
  10. ESO
  11. ESOC

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: esnecy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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