Table of Contents
Definition of Ultimogeniture
(noun) The custom, law, principle, or tradition granting inheritance of a family estate to the last born or youngest child.
Example of Ultimogeniture
- Quinn decided to will the family estate to Kelly, the youngest, instead of Alexis, the oldest.
Ultimogeniture Pronunciation
Syllabification: ul·ti·mo·gen·i·ture
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /uhl-tuh-moh-jEn-uh-chur/
- British English – /uhl-ti-moh-jE-ni-chuh/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English: /ˌʌltəmoˈdʒɛnəˌtʃʊr/
- British English: /ˌʌltɪmə(ʊ)ˈdʒenɪtʃə/
Usage Notes
- Plural: ultimogenitures
- While rarer than primogeniture, there is a vast array of rule variation relating to ultimogeniture 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 is the opposite of ultimogeniture 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:
- junior right
- postremogeniture
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
- family
- family life cycle
- family of orientation
- family of procreation
- group
- individual
- inheritance
- marriage
- monogamy
- partible inheritance
- primogeniture
Cite the Definition of Ultimogeniture
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “ultimogeniture.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved October 15, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/ultimogeniture/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
ultimogeniture. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/ultimogeniture/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “ultimogeniture.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/ultimogeniture/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“ultimogeniture.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/ultimogeniture/>.