Por`phy*ro*gen"i*tism (?), n. [LL. porphyro genitus, fr. Gr. ; purple + root of to be born.]
The principle of succession in royal families, especially among the Eastern Roman emperors, by which a younger son, if born after the accession of his father to the throne, was preferred to an elder son who was not so born.
Sir T. Palgrave.
© Webster 1913.