Outcaste

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈaʊtkɑːst/

Definitions

  1. a person rejected or excluded from their social group or caste system
  2. someone cast out or expelled from society or their community status
  3. an individual ostracized or removed from their social standing or group membership

Etymology: The word "outcaste" entered English in the late 18th century as a term for a person in India who had been expelled from or rejected by their caste, the hereditary social and occupational groups that structured Hindu society. The word is a compound of the English prefix "out-" (meaning "away from" or "excluded from") and "caste," which itself derives from the Portuguese "casta," used by Portuguese colonizers in India to describe the rigid social divisions they encountered. The Portuguese term likely came from Latin "castus," meaning "pure" or "chaste," though the semantic connection between ritual purity and social rank was reinterpreted through the lens of Indian social structures rather than derived from Latin meaning directly. The concept of caste exclusion was not new to Indian society—the Sanskrit term "antyaja" referred to those outside the four main varnas, or social classes—but the English word "outcaste" specifically emerged from colonial contact and the vocabulary colonizers developed to describe Indian social organization. Early English texts from the late 1700s used "outcaste" to refer to individuals who had violated caste rules and were consequently shunned or expelled by their communities, a status that carried severe social and economic consequences in traditional Hindu society. By the 19th century, "outcaste" had broadened in English usage beyond its strictly Indian context to mean any person rejected or excluded from society or a social group, though the Indian meaning remained primary. The verb form, meaning "to expel from caste" or more broadly "to exclude from society," developed naturally from the noun and appears in English texts from the 1800s onward. The word carries historical weight as a marker of both the colonial encounter with Indian society and the universal human experience of social exclusion, making it a term that bridges specific cultural context and more general social commentary.

Synonyms: untouchable, pariah, exile, outlaw, reject

Antonyms: insider, accepted, member, in-group, belonging