caste

American  

[kast, kahst] / kæst, kɑst /

noun

• castes
  plural

1. Sociology.

   1. an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups.

   2. any rigid system of social distinctions.

2. Hinduism. any of the social divisions into which Hindu society is traditionally divided, each caste having its own privileges and limitations, transferred by inheritance from one generation to the next; jati.

3. any class or group of society sharing common cultural features.

   low caste; high caste.

4. social position conferred upon one by a caste system.

   to lose caste.

5. Entomology. one of the distinct forms among polymorphous social insects, performing a specialized function in the colony, as a queen, worker or soldier.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characterized by caste.

   a caste society; a caste system; a caste structure.

caste British  

/ kɑːst /

noun

1. 1. any of the four major hereditary classes, namely the Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra into which Hindu society is divided See also Brahman Kshatriya Vaisya Sudra

   2. Also called: caste system. the system or basis of such classes

   3. the social position or rank conferred by this system

2. any social class or system based on such distinctions as heredity, rank, wealth, profession, etc

3. the position conferred by such a system

4. entomol any of various types of specialized individual, such as the worker, in social insects (hive bees, ants, etc)

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caste Scientific  

/ kăst /

1. A specialized group carrying out a specific function within a colony of social insects. For example, in an ant colony, members of the caste of workers forage for food outside the colony or tend eggs and larvae, while the members of the caste of soldiers, often larger with stronger jaws, are responsible for defense of the colony.

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caste Cultural  

1. One of the four hereditary social divisions in Hinduism. Members of any one caste are restricted in their choice of occupation and may have only limited association with members of other castes.

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Discover More

Caste has come to mean a group of persons set apart by economic, social, religious, legal, or political criteria, such as occupation, status, religious denomination, legal privilege, skin color, or some other physical characteristic. Members of a caste tend to associate among themselves and rarely marry outside the caste. Castes are more socially separate from each other than are social class es.

During the height of segregation in the United States, African-Americans were sometimes loosely referred to as a caste.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• casteism
  noun
• subcaste
  noun
• anticaste
  adjective
• casteless
  adjective
• intercaste
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• castes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of caste

First recorded in 1545–55; from Portuguese casta “race, breed,” noun use of casta, feminine of casto, from Latin castus “pure, chaste ”

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Explanation

The word caste was originally associated with India's traditional system of hereditary and rigidly stratified classes, but this noun can now be used to refer to any social group distinguished by shared characteristics, such as rank, economic wealth, or profession. The root of caste is the Latin castus, which means "chaste" or "pure, separated." The word arrived in English through the Portuguese casta, which means "race" or "lineage," and was first used in the 1700s in reference to Hinduism's system of social stratification. By the nineteenth century, though, this noun was used metaphorically to describe any type of group that resembled this, as in the example, "Some sought to abolish the privileges enjoyed by an elite caste of business and financial leaders."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caste castes

But he had also taught me some of Russian prison’s unwritten rules—and how I could avoid ending up in the lowest rung of its caste system.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

The last time Bhagwat spoke in the U.S., eight years ago, he urged solidarity among Hindus—who have caste, language and other divides—by comparing the community to a lion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

But the caste system is very deeply rooted, said Gidion Mbilijora, who was the "bupati" or head of the East Sumba district for 13 years, and who owns two atas himself.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

These travelers were commonly referred to as “Indios chinos” in the colonial caste structure, though historians say the majority were Filipino.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

The significance of this cannot be overstated, for the failure to acknowledge the humanity and dignity of all persons has lurked at the root of every racial caste system.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Last year, the government announced a census to enumerate the country’s castes officially.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

The bench includes Justice BV Nagarathna, the lone female judge in the top court who is due to become India's chief justice next year, and judges drawn from different faiths, castes and regions.

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026

Segregated living has existed in rural India for a long time where different castes and religions lived apart.

From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2024

Most ants have two morphologically differentiated adult castes -- queens and workers -- each irreversibly specialized for either reproduction or nonreproductive altruism such as foraging, defense and care of maternal brood.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2024

The whole system was under the domain of the State, which was built up not on individuals or castes, but on common human qualities.

From Human, All-Too-Human, Part II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

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