caste
caste Lexical Profile
caste Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status.
"Historians studied how the traditional caste system influenced marriage and occupation across the region."
Any exclusive or rigid social class or group distinguished by inherited rank, privilege, wealth, or profession.
"The novel critiques a society divided into a privileged ruling caste and a disenfranchised working class."
In entomology, a specialized form of a social insect, such as a worker, soldier, or queen among ants, bees, or termites, that performs a particular function in the colony.
"Within the leafcutter ant colony, the soldier caste is responsible for defending the nest against predators."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'caste' (a rigid social class) with its homophone 'cast' (to throw, a plaster mold, or the actors in a play).
• Rhymes for caste
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-16th century from Portuguese and Spanish 'casta' ('race, lineage, or breed'), which derives from the feminine form of the Latin adjective 'castus', meaning 'chaste, pure, or unmixed'.