Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Caste
Caste
,Noun.
[Pg.
casta
race, lineage, fr. L. castus
pure, chaste: cf. F. caste
, of same origin.] 1.
One of the hereditary classes into which the Hindu are divided according to the laws of Brahmanism.
☞ The members of the same caste are theoretically of equal rank, and same profession or occupation, and may not eat or intermarry with those not of their own caste. The original are four, viz., the Brahmans, or sacerdotal order; the Kshatriyas, or soldiers and rulers; the Vaisyas, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sudras, or laborers and mechanics. Men of no caste are Pariahs, outcasts. Numerous mixed classes, or castes, have sprung up in the progress of time.
2.
A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves.
The tinkers then formed an hereditary
caste
. Macaulay.
To lose caste
, to be degraded from the caste to which one has belonged; to lose social position or consideration.
Definition 2024
caste
caste
English
Noun
caste (plural castes)
- Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies.
- A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.
- Macaulay
- The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste.
- Macaulay
- (zoology) A class of ants of a particular size and function within a colony.
Hyponyms
Translations
hereditary social class
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Anagrams
French
Noun
caste f (plural castes)
References
- “caste” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Latin
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
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “caste”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.