chaste
/t͡ʃeɪst/adjective
chaste is spelled C-H-A-S-T-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, chaste means “Sexually pure, abstaining from immoral or unlawful sexual intercourse” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in chaste?
| Letters | 6: C-H-A-S-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,998th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is chaste?
Chaste appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th 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 chaste?
- /t͡ʃeɪst/
- /t͡ʃæst/
Chaste has one syllable (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-chaste.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with chaste
Sounds like: chased (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with chaste?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as chaste.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: stache, sachet, scathe.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of chaste
- chaster comparative
- chastest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does chaste mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Sexually pure, abstaining from immoral or unlawful sexual intercourse.
Theirs was a chaste marriage, loving and content.
- 2
Synonym of celibate, abstaining from any sexual intercourse.
Theirs was a chaste marriage, cold and sexless.
- 3
Synonym of virginal, innocent, having or providing no sexual knowledge or experience.
Her upbringing had been so chaste that her first experience French kissing ended in a panicked dash to the Piggly Wiggly to buy a home pregnancy test, just in case.
- 4
Synonym of modest, particularly (sexism) in reference to behavior expected of sexually pure women.
I ask again what reason could a chaste woman possibly have for being out so late? and in that part of town? Your Honor, we repeat our motion that you recuse yourself from this case.
- 5
Synonym of austere, plain, unextravagant, particularly demure, sexually discreet.
The chaste style of most early modern novels is elegant but intensely boring, particularly for teenagers too inexperienced to effectively read between the lines.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Chaste in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sexually pure:
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 chaste come from?
From Middle English chaste, from Old French chaste (“morally pure”), from Latin castus (“pure”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).