Word.ws English Dictionary

primogeniture

/ˌprʌɪmə(ʊ)ˈdʒɛnɪtʃə/

primogeniture noun: the state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents.

Noun

primogeniture (countable and uncountable, plural primogenitures)

  1. The state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents.
  2. The principle that the eldest child has an exclusive right of inheritance.
    • On these grounds, I contend the mere possession of large property, which is all that primogeniture insures, is by no means a sufficient and unobjectionable qualification for a legislator.1835, Timothy Winterbottom, A Letter to Isaac Tomkins and Peter Jenkins on Primogeniture, 5th edition, page 7
    • Anglo-Saxon kings did not succeed on the basis of primogeniture. All the kings offspring were known as aethelings -- throneworthy -- and from this gene pool the royal family would select the aetheling who seemed best qualified for the job.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 165
  3. (countable) An instance of such a right of inheritance, established by custom or law.
    • The King of Sardinia, by a decree of the 9th of Dec. has abolished—
      1. The prohibition against the erection of primogenitures and feudal rights, enacted by the 9th section of the edict of the 29th of July 1797, or by any other law; restricting, however, to those primogenitures and majorats only...1818, The Annual Register for the Year 1817, volume 59, page 142
    • All primogenitures, trusts, rights of presentation, and every other description of entail on real property, movables, or fixtures, rents, annuities, seigneuries, or of any other kind whatsoever, are suppressed, which are from henceforward restored to the class of absolutely free.1860, American State Papers, page 704

primogeniture meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

primogeniture in Tamil

தலைமகன் உரிமை, முந்து பிறப்புரிமை

primogeniture in Bengali

জ্যেষ্ঠাধিকার, জ্যেষ্ঠ সন্তানের উত্তরাধিকার লাভ

primogeniture in Malayalam

മൂത്ത കുട്ടി എന്ന അവസ്ഥ, മൂത്തകുട്ടിയെ പിൻഗാമിയാക്കുക എന്ന രീതി

Examples of primogeniture in a sentence

  • Primogeniture acting as a law of inheritance in the case of intestacy applied in fact to all real property, however humble.2011, Zouheir Jamoussi, Primogeniture and Entail in England: A Survey of Their History and Representation in Literature, page 10:
  • He writes as if he is the first privileged male to notice the unfairness of primogeniture (the “hierarchy”, as he likes to call it with sinister emphasis).2023 January 17, Tina Brown, “Spare by Prince Harry review – magical thinking in Montecito”, in The Guardian:
  • The American system of land tenures, the abolition of entails and primogenitures, and our methods of transfer of real estate, are all anti-English in their origin.1906, John Sergeant Wise, A Treatise on American Citizenship, published 1997, page 95:

All 11 example sentences with primogeniture

Antonyms of primogeniture

Forms of primogeniture

pluralprimogenitures

Origin of primogeniture

From French, from Late Latin primogenitura, from Latin primus (“first”) + genitura (“birth”) (from genitus, past participle of gignere).

Words formed from primogeniture

Questions about primogeniture

What does primogeniture mean?
Primogeniture means the state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents.
What is primogeniture in Tamil?
Primogeniture in Tamil is தலைமகன் உரிமை, முந்து பிறப்புரிமை. See Primogeniture meaning in Tamil.
How do you use primogeniture in a sentence?
Primogeniture acting as a law of inheritance in the case of intestacy applied in fact to all real property, however humble.
What part of speech is primogeniture?
Primogeniture is a noun.
How do you pronounce primogeniture?
Primogeniture is pronounced /ˌprʌɪmə(ʊ)ˈdʒɛnɪtʃə/ (UK).
What is the plural of primogeniture?
The plural of primogeniture is primogenitures.

Words near primogeniture in the dictionary

  1. primogenitive
  2. primogenitor
  3. primogenitoral
  4. primogenitors
  5. primogenitrix
  6. primogeniture
  7. primogenitures
  8. primogenitureship
  9. primogenous
  10. primoinfection
  11. primoinfections

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: primogeniture (page history and authors); primogeniture (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); primogeniture (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); primogeniture (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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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