Table of Contents
Definition of Primogeniture
(noun) The custom or law granting inheritance of a family estate and titles to the first born or eldest child.
Example of Primogeniture
- The traditional method of succession for the British throne.
Primogeniture Pronunciation
Syllabification: pri·mo·gen·i·ture
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /prie-moh-jEn-uh-chur/
- British English – /prie-moh-jE-ni-chuh/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English: /ˌpɹaɪmoˈdʒɛnəˌtʃʊr/
- British English: /ˌpɹaɪməʊˈdʒenɪtʃə/
Usage Notes
- There is vast array of rule variation relating to primogeniture across societies and cultures and the reasons for its use. The primary reason however, is to maintain and consolidate a family’s money and property and therefore their power and influence.
- Primogeniture inheritance regardless of sex is called cognatic primogeniture, if only a male can inherit it is called patrilineal primogeniture, and if only females can inherit it is called matrilineal primogeniture.
- Ultimogeniture is the opposite of primogeniture and in contrast, partible inheritance is when inheritance is divided more or less equally among heirs.
- Secundogeniture refers to inheritance granted to the second oldest child and tertiogeniture refers to inheritance granted to the third oldest child.
- A type of inheritance.
- Also called right of primogeniture.
- The oldest child inherited the family farm because the (adjective) primogenital or (adjective) primogenitary rule.
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “primogeniture” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Inheritance – Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia: en.wikipedia.org
- Primogeniture – Encyclopedia.com: encyclopedia.com
Related Terms
- career inheritance
- family
- family life cycle
- family of orientation
- family of procreation
- inheritance
- marriage
- monogamy
- partible inheritance
- ultimogeniture
Works Consulted
Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged. 6th ed. 2003. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins.
Farlex. (N.d.) TheFreeDictionary.com: Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Farlex. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Primogeniture
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “primogeniture.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved February 9, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/primogeniture/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
primogeniture. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/primogeniture/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “primogeniture.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/primogeniture/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“primogeniture.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 9 Feb. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/primogeniture/>.