# caste
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish casta (“lineage, breed, race”), of uncertain origin.
* The OED derives it 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-.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: käst, IPA: /kɑːst/
* (Northern England, Scotland) IPA: /kast/
* (General American) IPA: /kæst/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Homophones: cast; karst (non-rhotic, trap–bath split)
* Rhymes: -ɑːst

### Noun

caste (plural castes)
* Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies or similar found historically in other cultures.
    Hyponyms: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Shudra, Vaishya, varna
** 2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian‎:Pakistan is a conservative, religious state. The Edhi Foundation is unusual in its ignoring of caste, creed, religion and sect. This strict stance has led to some criticism from religious groups.
* A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.
** 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 89:It was an evidence of the peculiar nature of caste in country towns[.]
** 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 5, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 236:'I believe, Messieurs, in loyalty - to one's friends and one's family and one's caste.'
** 1911, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Bunyan, John”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica‎:The tinkers then formed a hereditary caste.
* (zoology) A class of polymorphous eusocial insects of a particular size and function within a colony.
    In beehives, most bees belong to the worker caste.

#### Derived terms

* anticaste
* casted
* casteism
* casteist
* casteless
* castelike
* caste mark
* castemate
* caste-ridden
* castewise
* half-caste
* intercaste
* intracaste
* lose caste
* noncaste
* outcaste
* quarter-caste
* subcaste
* supercaste

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* Cates, Stace, cates, scate, sceat, taces

## Dutch
### Verb

caste
* (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of casten

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese casta, if of Germanic origin, possibly from Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts), from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es- (“to throw”), similar to English cast. Or, alternatively from a derivative of Latin castus.

### Noun

caste f (plural castes)
* caste (hereditary class)
* class (social position)

### Further reading

* “caste”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Galician
### Alternative forms

* casta

### Etymology

Probably from Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts), from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), compare English cast.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkaste/ [ˈkɑs̺.t̪ɪ]
* Rhymes: -aste
* Hyphenation: cas‧te

### Noun

caste f (plural castes)
* species, race or kind
** 1853, Juan Manuel Pintos, A Gaita Gallega, Pontevedra: Impr. de D. José e D. Primitivo Vilas, page 29:Por aquí nacen os ricos polo outro probes labregos. Estas son as dúas castes que hai en todo o mundo inteiro.Here the rich people are born, there the poor peasants; these are the two races that there are in the whole world
* quality
** 1859, Ramón Barros Silvelo, Un dia de desfertuna, page 3:Dime logo que o probe do animal ou é de mala caste, ou ben non comeHe readily told me that the animal [that I was selling] either was of bad quality, or either it didn't eat
* progeny; group of people that share a common ancestor
    Synonyms: estirpe, fruxe, liñaxe
** 1853, Juan Manuel Pintos, A Gaita Gallega, Pontevedra: Impr. de D. José e D. Primitivo Vilas, page 8:{ soy llamado Pedro Luces ... } - To to to, vamos con tento que un home con ese nome pode ser caste do demo.{I am called Peter Lights...} —Wo wo wo! Let us be careful: a man with that name could de a Devil's child.

#### Derived terms

* castizar (“to mate”)
* castizo (“stud pig”)
* de caste (“selected”)

### References

* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “caste”, 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), “caste”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “caste”, 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

## Italian
### Adjective

caste
* feminine plural of casto

### Noun

caste f
* plural of casta

### Anagrams

* cesta, steca

## Latin
### Etymology 1

From castus +‎ -ē.

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkas.teː/, [ˈkäs̠t̪eː]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkas.te/, [ˈkäst̪e]

#### Adverb

castē (comparative castius, superlative castissimē)
* purely, spotlessly, virtuously
* piously, religiously

### Etymology 2

Inflected form of castus.

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkas.te/, [ˈkäs̠t̪ɛ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkas.te/, [ˈkäst̪e]

#### Adjective

caste
* vocative masculine singular of castus

### References

* “caste”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “caste”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* caste in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.