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Added 9 October 2026

caste

/kɑːst/ noun

Latin root: castus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about caste at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies or similar found historically in other cultures.
A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.
The division of society into castes; the caste system.

Origin

Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish casta (“lineage, breed, race”), which the OED derives from Portuguese casto (“chaste”), from Latin castus (“chaste"; "chastity”), Coromines (1987) argues instead for a hypothetical Gothic form *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts, “group, collection of animals”), cognate with English cast, from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es-.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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