casta

See also: Casta and ĉasta

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish casta.

Noun

casta (plural castas)

1. (historical) A hierarchical system of race classification created by Spanish elites in Hispanic America during the eighteenth century.

Anagrams

• ACATS

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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.

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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): /ˈkasta̝/

Noun

casta f (plural castas)

1. species, race or kind
   • 1807, anonymous, 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

• ser da casta do Demo (“to be a bad person”, literally “to be one of the Devil's offspring”)
• castizar (“to mate”)
• castizo (“stud pig”)

References

• Template:R:DDLG
• Template:R:TILG
• “casta” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

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Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɑsˠt̪ˠə]
• 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

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese casta or Spanish casta, probably of Gothic and Germanic origin.

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

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Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) casta

1. nominative feminine singular of castus
2. nominative neuter plural of castus
3. accusative neuter plural of castus
4. vocative feminine singular of castus
5. nominative neuter plural of castus

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) 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)

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• 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 s)

1. bloodline; lineage
2. breed; race
3. species
4. caste (hereditary social classes)

Synonyms

• (lineage): linhagem, sangue
• (race): raça

Etymology 2

Adjective

casta

1. (deprecated template usage) Feminine singular of adjective casto.

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkasta/ [ˈkas.t̪a]

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.

Noun

casta f (plural castas)

1. lineage
2. breed
3. caste

Derived terms

• castizo

Etymology 2

Adjective

casta

1. (deprecated template usage) Feminine singular of adjective casto.

Further reading

• Template:R:DRAE 2001