caste

noun

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. 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?”

   “'I believe, Messieurs, in loyalty - to one's friends and one's family and one's caste.'”

   “The tinkers then formed a hereditary caste.”

3. (uncountable)The division of society into castes; the caste system.

   “It was an evidence of the peculiar nature of caste in country towns[.]”

4. A class of polymorphous eusocial insects of a particular size and function within a colony.

   “In beehives, most bees belong to the worker caste.”