chaste
pronunciation
How to pronounce chaste in British English:
UK [tʃeɪst]
How to pronounce chaste in American English:
US [tʃeɪst]
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- Adjective:
- morally pure (especially not having experienced sexual intercourse)
- pure and simple in design or style
- abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse
Word Origin
- chaste
- chaste: [13] Chaste comes via Old French from Latin castus ‘pure’. The notion of making someone pure, by correcting or reproving them, was expressed in Latin by the derived verb castīgāre, which passed into English in the 17th century as castigate. Old French, however, had already adopted it as chastier, which in the 12th century produced the now obsolete English verb chaste ‘discipline’. From it were formed the derivatives chastise [14] and chasten [16]. Also ultimately from Latin castus is English caste.=> caste, chasten, chastise, incest
- chaste (adj.)
- c. 1200, "virtuous, pure from unlawful sexual intercourse" (as defined by the Church), from Old French chaste "morally pure" (12c.), from Latin castus "clean, pure, morally pure" (see caste). Transferred sense of "sexually pure" is by 15c., perhaps by influence of chastity, though chaste as a noun meaning "virgin person" is recorded from early 14c. Related: Chastely.
Example
- 1. Politeness of mind consists in thinking chaste and refined thoughts .
- 2. Experts said that this may be due to improved communication between individuals who were chaste before marriage .
- 3. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s , challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past .
- 4. An early 18th-century marchioness vowed to be chaste for the whole year , but couldn 't swear to may .
- 5. It seemed that this garden , created in olden days to conceal wanton mysteries , had been transformed and become fitted to shelter chaste mysteries .