Meanings
chastity1
plural chastities
- countableuncountableThe quality of being chaste: the state of abstaining from any sexual activity considered immoral; avoidance of sexual sins.
virtue and chastity
2 more examples
The monk took a vow of chastity.
In Catholic doctrine, the virtue of chastity is taken to be the principal foil to everyone's favourite deadly sin, lust.
2010, The Guardian, Celibacy: whose bright idea was that?, 29 May 2010Synonyms: chasteness
Chastity2
- rareA female given name from English from the virtue chastity.
Since she was saddled with that awful name, Chastity Bono has given her parents much grief over it. "It helps to get into a show or something, but most of the time it's a pain," she told McCall's. The girl blames mama Cher who was inspired by a movie.
1990, Frank Zappa, Peter Occhiogrosso, The Real Frank Zappa Book, Simon&Schuster, →ISBN, page 247
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe quality of being chaste: the state of abstaining from any sexual activity considered immoral; avoidance of sexual sins.
More synonyms by meaning
nounabstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincastitas
- Old Frenchchasteté
- Middle Englishchastite
- Englishchastity
From Middle English chastite, from Old French chasteté, a semi-learned adaptation of Latin castitas, equivalent to chaste + -ity.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἁγνεία
- ἁγνεία (hagneía)abstaining from sexual activity
Arabic عِفَّة, طَهَارَة
- عِفَّة (ʕiffa)abstaining from sexual activity
- طَهَارَة (ṭahāra)abstaining from sexual activity
Bengali সতীত্ব
- সতীত্ব (śotitto)abstaining from sexual activity
Bulgarian целомъ́дрие, непоро́чност
- целомъ́дрие (celomắdrie)abstaining from sexual activity
- непоро́чност (neporóčnost)abstaining from sexual activity
Catalan castedat
- castedatabstaining from sexual activity
Chinese Mandarin 貞節 /贞节, 貞潔 /贞洁
- 貞節 /贞节 (zhēnjié)abstaining from sexual activity
- 貞潔 /贞洁 (zhēnjié)abstaining from sexual activity
- 貞操 /贞操 (zhēncāo)abstaining from sexual activity
- 純潔 /纯洁 (chúnjié)abstaining from sexual activity
Czech cudnost
- cudnostabstaining from sexual activity
Danish kyskhed
- kyskhedabstaining from sexual activity
Dutch zedigheid, kuisheid
- zedigheidabstaining from sexual activity
- kuisheidabstaining from sexual activity
Esperanto ĉasteco
- ĉastecoabstaining from sexual activity
Estonian vooruslikkus
- vooruslikkusabstaining from sexual activity
Finnish siveys
- siveysabstaining from sexual activity
French chasteté
- chastetéabstaining from sexual activity
German Keuschheit
- Keuschheitabstaining from sexual activity
Greek αγνεία, αγνότητα
- αγνεία (agneía)abstaining from sexual activity
- αγνότητα (agnótita)abstaining from sexual activity
Hindi शुचिता, सतीत्व
- शुचिता (śucitā)abstaining from sexual activity
- सतीत्व (satītva)abstaining from sexual activity
- शुद्धता (śuddhatā)abstaining from sexual activity
Hungarian szüzesség
- szüzességabstaining from sexual activity
Indonesian kesucian, kemurnian
- kesucianabstaining from sexual activity
- kemurnianabstaining from sexual activity
- kesederhanaanabstaining from sexual activity
Italian castità
- castitàabstaining from sexual activity
Japanese 貞潔, 貞操
- 貞潔 (teiketsu)abstaining from sexual activity
- 貞操 (teisō)abstaining from sexual activity
- 純潔 (junketsu)abstaining from sexual activity
Korean 순결, 정조
- 순결 (sun'gyeol)abstaining from sexual activity
- 정조 (jeongjo)abstaining from sexual activity
- 정결 (jeonggyeol)abstaining from sexual activity
Latin castitās, pudīcitia
- castitāsabstaining from sexual activity
- pudīcitiaabstaining from sexual activity
Latvian šķīstība
- šķīstībaabstaining from sexual activity
Lithuanian dorovingumas
- dorovingumasabstaining from sexual activity
Māori takakautanga
- takakautangaabstaining from sexual activity
Norwegian Bokmål kyskhet, renhet
- kyskhetabstaining from sexual activity
- renhetabstaining from sexual activity
Persian عفت, پاکدامنی
- عفت ('effat)abstaining from sexual activity
- پاکدامنی (pâkdâmani)abstaining from sexual activity
Polish czystość
- czystośćabstaining from sexual activity
Portuguese castidade
- castidadeabstaining from sexual activity
Romanian castitate
- castitateabstaining from sexual activity
Russian целому́дрие, неви́нность
- целому́дрие (celomúdrije)abstaining from sexual activity
- неви́нность (nevínnostʹ)abstaining from sexual activity
- непоро́чность (neporóčnostʹ)abstaining from sexual activity
Slovak cudnosť
- cudnosťabstaining from sexual activity
Spanish castidad
- castidadabstaining from sexual activity
Swedish kyskhet, renhet
- kyskhetabstaining from sexual activity
- renhetabstaining from sexual activity
Thai พรหมจรรย์, ความบริสุทธิ์
- พรหมจรรย์ (prom-má-jan)abstaining from sexual activity
- ความบริสุทธิ์ (kwaam-bɔɔ-rí-sùt)abstaining from sexual activity
Turkish iffet
- iffetabstaining from sexual activity
Ukrainian цнотли́вість, непоро́чність
- цнотли́вість (cnotlývistʹ)abstaining from sexual activity
- непоро́чність (neporóčnistʹ)abstaining from sexual activity
- неви́нність (nevýnnistʹ)abstaining from sexual activity
Urdu عِفَّت
- عِفَّت ('iffat)abstaining from sexual activity
Vietnamese bình dị, tính giản dị
- bình dịabstaining from sexual activity
- tính giản dịabstaining from sexual activity
- trinh tiếtabstaining from sexual activity
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
chastity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chastity
“chastity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chastity. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chastity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chastity.
Source: chastity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.