[kɑːst], (Noun)

Definitions:
- each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status
(e.g: members of the lower castes)


Phrases:
- lose caste

Origin:
mid 16th century (in the general sense ‘race, breed’): from Spanish and Portuguese casta ‘lineage, race, breed’, feminine of casto ‘pure, unmixed’, from Latin castus ‘chaste’