casta

See also: Casta, ĉasta, and Častá

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish casta.

Noun

casta (uncountable)

1. (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^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈkas.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈkas.ta]

Etymology 1

Noun

casta f (plural castes)

1. race, breed
2. type, kind

   Synonym: mena

3. caste

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

casta

1. 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, 2024
• “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^(key): /ˈkasta/ [ˈkɑs̺.t̪ɐ]
• Rhymes: -asta
• Hyphenation: cas‧ta

Noun

casta f (plural castas)

1. 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

2. quality
3. lineage, progeny, offspring, group of people who share the same ancestors
4. 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

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Aran) IPA^(key): [ˈkɑsˠt̪ˠə]
• (Connemara, Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): [ˈkasˠt̪ˠə]

Participle

casta

1. past participle of cas

Adjective

casta

1. twisted, wound
2. complicated, intricate, involved
3. gnarled, bent, wizened

Declension

Declension of casta

	Singular		Plural (m/f)
Positive	Masculine	Feminine	(strong noun)	(weak noun)
Nominative	casta	chasta	casta; chasta²
Vocative	chasta		casta
Genitive		casta	casta	casta
Dative	casta; chasta¹	chasta	casta; chasta²
Comparative	níos casta
Superlative	is casta

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

1. genitive singular of casadh

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
casta	chasta	gcasta
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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^(key): /ˈka.sta/
• Rhymes: -asta
• Hyphenation: cà‧sta

Noun

casta f (plural caste)

1. caste
2. establishment; the exclusive class of powerful people thought to really rule Italy

Derived terms

• anticasta

Adjective

casta f sg

1. feminine singular of casto (“chaste”)

Anagrams

• Tasca, tasca

Latin

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.ta/, [ˈkäs̠t̪ä]

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.ta/, [ˈkäst̪ä]

Adjective

casta

1. inflection of castus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/nominative neuter plural

Adjective

castā

1. 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^(key): /ˈkas.tɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.tɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʃ.tɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.ta/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /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)

1. bloodline; lineage

   Synonyms: linhagem, sangue

2. breed; race

   Synonym: raça

3. species
4. caste (hereditary social classes)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

casta

1. feminine singular of casto

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /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)

1. caste
2. lineage (of a person)

   Synonym: linaje

3. breed (of an animal)

   Synonym: raza

4. (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

1. feminine singular of casto

Further reading

• “casta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16