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Caste
Definitions
- 1 Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies or similar found historically in other cultures.
"Pakistan is a conservative, religious state. The Edhi Foundation is unusual in its ignoring of caste, creed, religion and sect. This strict stance has led to some criticism from religious groups."
- 2 in some social insects (such as ants) a physically distinct individual or group of individuals specialized to perform certain functions in the colony wordnet
- 3 A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.
"Ah! Can you give me all I've asked for — not now, nor a few months later, but when you begin to think of what you might have done if you had kept your own appointment and your caste here — when you begin to look upon me as a drag and a burden?"
- 4 a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth wordnet
- 5 The division of society into castes; the caste system. uncountable
"It was an evidence of the peculiar nature of caste in country towns[.]"
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- 6 (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity wordnet
- 7 A class of polymorphous eusocial insects of a particular size and function within a colony.
"In beehives, most bees belong to the worker caste."
- 8 social status or position conferred by a system based on class wordnet
Etymology
Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish casta (“lineage, breed, race”), which the OED derives from Portuguese casto (“chaste”), from Latin castus (“chaste"; "chastity”), Coromines (1987) argues instead for a hypothetical Gothic form *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts, “group, collection of animals”), cognate with English cast, from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es-.
See also for "caste"
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