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Oct 22, 2013
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
tumid
primogeniture
recidivism
mien
autochthonous

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

primogeniture

PRONUNCIATION:
(pry-muh-JEN-i-chuhr, pree-, -choor)

MEANING:
noun:
1. The state of being the firstborn or eldest child in a family.
2. The right of succession and inheritance belonging to the firstborn child.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin primus (first) + gignere (to beget). Not to be confused with primogenitor. Earliest documented use: 1500.

USAGE:
"Primogeniture! I remembered that, from History 1A. But to hear of this law in reality, in this century, struck me. How could they give all this to one child, leaving the other three without?"
Marjorie Leet Ford; The Diary of an American Au Pair; Anchor Books; 2011.

See more usage examples of primogeniture in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)

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