Meaning

noun social status or position conferred by a system based on class

noun (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity

noun a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth

originBorrowed 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-.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0