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History vocabulary · Empires, States and Rulers

Primogeniture

Meaning in history, with examples

nounCommon term

In history, primogeniture means: An inheritance principle giving priority to the firstborn child, often the eldest son in historical systems.

In Turkish: ilk doğanın miras önceliği, primogenitür

How it is used

Specify whether the rule concerns land or a throne and whether it excludes daughters.

Example sentences

  1. Primogeniture kept the estate together by favoring the eldest son.

    The principle can prevent equal division among children.

  2. The succession dispute concerned whether primogeniture applied to daughters too.

    The term alone does not settle the gender conditions of inheritance.

Common collocations

  • male primogeniture
  • the principle of primogeniture
  • successionThe process by which a new ruler takes the place of the previous one, and the rules or customs that decide who has the right to the throne.
  • dynastyA series of rulers who come from the same family and pass power from one generation to the next, or the period during which such a family rules.

More terms: Empires, States and Rulers

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