Etymology

agnus castus

Today it means: A tree, Vitex agnus-castus, formerly believed to preserve chastity. Full definition →

Ancient Greek ἄγνος ← Latin castus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcastus“chaste”
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromἄγνος
  3. English todayagnus castus

From Ancient Greek ἄγνος (ágnos), confused with ἁγνός (hagnós, “chaste”) + by reinforcement Latin castus (“chaste”).

Words from the same roots

Latincastus all →

castechastecasta

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.