Se conoce como matrimonio morganático a la unión realizada entre dos personas de rango social desigual —por ejemplo, entre príncipe y condesa o entre noble y plebeyo—, en el cual se impide que el cónyuge y cualquier hijo de dicha unión herede u obtenga los títulos, privilegios y propiedades del noble. Es un término referido a las convenciones sociales y culturales propias del Antiguo Régimen. Era conocido también como «matrimonio de la mano izquierda» porque en este tipo de matrimonio el novio sostenía la mano derecha de la novia con la suya izquierda, cuando lo normal es hacerlo al revés. Este tipo de matrimonio era conocido en el derecho germánico, del que pasó al derecho de muchos pueblos. Según parece, su nombre proviene de morgen (matutino) y gabe (don). En ocasiones se le denomina también matrimonio sálico. La Iglesia católica siempre lo consideró como un matrimonio más. Principalmente, se realiza entre un noble y una plebeya, o viceversa, aunque estos últimos son casos poco comunes, ya que generalmente las mujeres no heredan ni reciben títulos y privilegios. En esta forma de matrimonio cada cónyuge mantiene su estado social original. A los hijos nacidos de este matrimonio se los conoce como hijos morganáticos y, a efectos legales, son considerados hijos legítimos.

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In the context of royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage. Now rare, it is also known as a left-handed marriage because in the wedding ceremony the groom held his bride's hand with his left hand instead of his right. Generally, this is a marriage between a man of high birth (such as from a reigning, deposed or mediatised dynasty) and a woman of lesser status (such as a daughter of a low-ranked noble family or a commoner). Usually, neither the bride nor any children of the marriage have a claim on the bridegroom's succession rights, titles, precedence, or entailed property. The children are considered legitimate for all other purposes and the prohibition against bigamy applies. In some countries, a woman could marry a man of lower rank morganatically. After World War I the heads of both ruling and formerly reigning dynasties initially continued the practice of rejecting dynastic titles and/or rights for descendants of "morganatic" unions, but gradually allowed them, sometimes retroactively, effectively de-morganatizing the wives and children. This was accommodated by Perthes' Almanach de Gotha (which categorised princely families by rank until it ceased publication after 1944) by inserting the offspring of such marriages in a third section of the almanac under entries denoted by a symbol (a dot within a circle) that "signifies some princely houses which, possessing no specific princely patent, have passed from the first part, A, or from the second part into the third part in virtue of special agreements." The Fürstliche Häuser ("Princely Houses") series of the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels ("Genealogical Manual of the Nobility") has followed this lead, likewise enrolling some issue of unapproved marriages in its third section, "III B", with a similar explanation: "Families in this section, although verified, received no specific decree, but have been included by special agreement in the 1st and 2nd sections". Variations of morganatic marriage were also practised by non-European dynasties, such as the Royal Family of Thailand, the polygamous Mongols as to their non-principal wives, and other families of Africa and Asia. Morganatic marriage is not, and has not been, possible in jurisdictions that do not permit restrictive encumbrances with regard to the marriage contract, as it is an agreement containing a pre-emptive limitation to the inheritance and property rights of the spouse and the children.

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