casta

Borrowed from Spanish casta.

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.

• casta on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• ACATS

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

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

casta f (plural castes)

1. race, breed
2. type, kind

   Synonym: mena

3. caste

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

casta

1. feminine singular of cast

• “casta”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “casta”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “casta” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “casta”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

• caste

Probably from Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts), from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), compare English cast.^[1] Alternatively from a derivative of Latin castus.

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

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)

• 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

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

casta

1. past participle of cas

casta

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

• aischasta (“revolute”, adjective)
• castacht f (“complexity, intricacy”)

casta m sg

1. genitive singular of casadh

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “casta”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /ˈkas.ta/
• Rhymes: -asta
• Hyphenation: cà‧sta

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

casta f (plural caste)

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

• anticasta

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

casta f sg

1. feminine singular of casto (“chaste”)

• Tasca, tasca

(Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkas.ta]

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

casta

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

castā

1. ablative feminine singular of castus

• "casta", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

• Hyphenation: cas‧ta

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.

casta f (plural castas)

1. bloodline; lineage

   Synonyms: linhagem, sangue

2. breed; race

   Synonym: raça

3. species
4. caste (hereditary social classes)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

casta

1. feminine singular of casto

• “casta”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “casta”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈkasta/ [ˈkas.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -asta
• Syllabification: cas‧ta

• 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.^[1] Although the term was already used in the 19th and 20th centuries and in 2010 by politicians and journalists.^[2]

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

casta

1. feminine singular of casto

• “casta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025