Pronounced: buhrch, noun/verb
Notes: I know the noun, but the verb was new to me
Yesterday’s word
The word primogeniture is
- the state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents
- an exclusive right of inheritance belonging to the eldest son
First usage
Our word came into English in the early 1600s
Background / Comments
I could guess the first meaning by parsing our word. It came from the Late Latin word primogenitura, which is a combination of the Latin word primus (first) and genitura (birth); the latter came from past participle of gignere (to beget). I could see “first” in “primo” and the second part looked like a word for “birth”. As I mentioned yesterday, there is a related word – “ultimogeniture”. It came into English around 250 years after our word, and refers to the last one born (the ultimate one). It is rather uncommon, but it is rather satisfying that our word has a counterpart.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 