# casta
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish casta.

### Noun

casta (uncountable)
* (historical) A hierarchical system of race classification created by Spanish elites in Hispanic America during the eighteenth century.
** 2012, Mary Jo Maynes, Ann Waltner, The Family: A World History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:Both of these political developments called attention to family lineage. In the Mexican colonial context, casta took on new meanings, referring to all the people of Mexico who were not of “pure” Spanish heritage.

### Further reading

* casta on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* ACATS

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈkas.tə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈkas.ta]

### Etymology 1
#### Noun

casta f (plural castes)
* race, breed
* type, kind
    Synonym: mena
* caste

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Adjective

casta
* feminine singular of cast

### Further reading

* “casta” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “casta”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “casta” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “casta” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Galician
### Alternative forms

* caste

### Etymology

Probably from Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts), from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), compare English cast. Alternatively from a derivative of Latin castus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkasta/ [ˈkɑs̺.t̪ɐ]
* Rhymes: -asta
* Hyphenation: cas‧ta

### Noun

casta f (plural castas)
* species, race or kind
** 1807, anonymous author, Segundo diálogo dos esterqueiros:ben dicen alí que cando un home ten un bocado, nunca lle marran amigos. Dou ó Demo a casta deles Si non sirven para máis.wisely they say that a man which has food never is short of friends. I send to hell their kind if they are good for nothing else
* quality
* lineage, progeny, offspring, group of people who share the same ancestors
* caste (hereditary class)

#### Derived terms

* castizar (“to mate”)
* castizo (“stud pig”)
* ser da casta do Demo (“to be a bad person”, literally “to be one of the Devil's offspring”)

### References

* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “casta”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “casta”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “casta”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
* ↑ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “casta”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

## Irish
### Pronunciation

* (Munster, Aran) IPA: [ˈkɑsˠt̪ˠə]
* (Connemara, Mayo, Ulster) IPA: [ˈkasˠt̪ˠə]

### Participle

casta
* past participle of cas

### Adjective

casta
* twisted, wound
* complicated, intricate, involved
* gnarled, bent, wizened

#### Declension

$^1$ When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article. $^2$ When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.

#### Derived terms

* aischasta (“revolute”, adjective)
* castacht f (“complexity, intricacy”)

### Noun

casta m sg
* genitive singular of casadh

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “casta”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

## Italian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese casta or Spanish casta, probably of Gothic and Germanic origin.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈka.sta/
* Rhymes: -asta
* Hyphenation: cà‧sta

### Noun

casta f (plural caste)
* caste
* establishment; the exclusive class of powerful people thought to really rule Italy

#### Derived terms

* anticasta

### Adjective

casta f sg
* feminine singular of casto (“chaste”)

### Anagrams

* Tasca, tasca

## Latin
### Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkas.ta/, [ˈkäs̠t̪ä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkas.ta/, [ˈkäst̪ä]

### Adjective

casta
* inflection of castus:
** nominative/vocative feminine singular
** nominative/accusative/nominative neuter plural

### Adjective

castā
* ablative feminine singular of castus

### References

* casta in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈkas.tɐ/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈkas.tɐ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈkaʃ.tɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈkas.ta/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈkaʃ.tɐ/
* Hyphenation: cas‧ta

### Etymology 1

Uncertain, possibly from the feminine of casto (“chaste”) (from Old Galician-Portuguese casto, from Latin castus) or from Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (*kastan) or *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), *kastuz.

#### Noun

casta f (plural castas)
* bloodline; lineage
    Synonyms: linhagem, sangue
* breed; race
    Synonym: raça
* species
* caste (hereditary social classes)

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Adjective

casta
* feminine singular of casto

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkasta/ [ˈkas.t̪a]
* Rhymes: -asta
* Syllabification: cas‧ta

### Etymology 1

* Probably of Germanic origin; compare Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts), from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”). Alternatively from a derivative of Latin castus (“chaste”).
* (establishment): Term popularized in Spain in 2014 by the Spanish politician Pablo Iglesias, and his Podemos party to criticize the establishment. Although the term was already used in the 19th and 20th centuries and in 2010 by politicians and journalists.

#### Noun

casta f (plural castas)
* caste
* lineage (of a person)
    Synonym: linaje
* breed (of an animal)
    Synonym: raza
* (Spain, Argentina) establishment (the exclusive class of powerful people thought to really rule the country)
    Synonym: casta política

##### Derived terms

* castizo

### Etymology 2
#### Adjective

casta
* feminine singular of casto

### Further reading

* “casta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

### References

* ↑ El diccionario de Podemos: los conceptos fetiche del partido, desde la 'casta' a los 'círculos'
* ↑ El concepto ‘casta’, de Manuel Azaña a Hermann Terstch