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castigate

/ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/verb

castigate is spelled C-A-S-T-I-G-A-T-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 103,949th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, castigate means “To punish or reprimand someone severely” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in castigate?

Letters9: C-A-S-T-I-G-A-T-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 12 million words; the 103,949th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is castigate?

Castigate appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 103,949th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce castigate?

  • US /ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/
  • US /ˈkæs.tə.ɡeɪt/

Castigate has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-castigate.ogg, En-au-castigate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of castigate

  • castigates present, singular, he/she/it
  • castigating participle, present
  • castigated participle, past
  • more castigate comparative
  • most castigate superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does castigate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To punish or reprimand someone severely.

  2. 2

    To execrate or condemn something in a harsh manner, especially by public criticism.

  3. 3

    rareTo revise or make corrections to a publication.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteSubdued, chastened, moderated

  2. 2

    obsoleteRevised and emended

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Castigate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchâtier (to punish or reprimand someone severely), réviser, corriger (to revise a publication)
Germanbestrafen, strafen (to punish or reprimand someone severely), revidieren, korrigieren (to revise a publication)
Portugueserepreender, castigar (to punish or reprimand someone severely), criticar duramente, criticar severamente (to criticize something severely)
Spanishreprender, castigar (to punish or reprimand someone severely), criticar duramente, criticar severamente, censurar (to criticize something severely)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does castigate come from?

First attested in the beginning of the 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin castīgātus, perfect passive participle of castīgō (“to reprove”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”). Doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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