castle.
A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectural features of medieval castles.
Meaning & usage
A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectural features of medieval castles.
An instance of castling.
A rook; a chess piece shaped like a castle tower.
A defense structure in shogi formed by defensive pieces surrounding the king.
A close helmet.
Any strong, imposing, and stately palace or mansion.
A small tower, as on a ship, or an elephant's back.
The wicket.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Indo-European *ḱstrom Proto-Italic *kastrom Latin castrum Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lum Latin castellumbor. Proto-West Germanic *kastell Old English castel Middle English castel English castle From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and château. Parallel borrowings (from Late Latin or Old French) are Scots castel, castell (“castle”), West Frisian kastiel (“castle”), Dutch kasteel (“castle”), German Kastell (“castle”), Danish kastel (“citadel”), Swedish kastell (“citadel”), Icelandic kastali (“castle”), Welsh castell. The late Old English word was borrowed from biblical Latin castellum which has been translated as town or village. With the sense of castle, from Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French castel (“castle”), itself from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”) (compare modern French château from Old French chastel). If Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”) is from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“hut, shed”), Latin casa (“cottage, hut”) is related. Possibly related also to Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌸𐌾𐍉 (hēþjō, “chamber”), Old English heaþor (“restraint, confinement, enclosure, prison”). See also casino, cassock.
To house or keep in a castle.
To protect or separate in a similar way.
To make into a castle: to build in the form of a castle or add (real or imitation) battlements to an existing building.
To move the king 2 squares right or left and, in the same turn, the nearest rook to the far side of the king. The move now has special rules: the king cannot be in, go through, or end in check; the squares between the king and rook must be vacant; and neither piece may have been moved before castling.
To create a similar defensive position in Japanese chess through several moves.
To bowl a batsman with a full-length ball or yorker such that the stumps are knocked over.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Indo-European *ḱstrom Proto-Italic *kastrom Latin castrum Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lum Latin castellumbor. Proto-West Germanic *kastell Old English castel Middle English castel English castle From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and château. Parallel borrowings (from Late Latin or Old French) are Scots castel, castell (“castle”), West Frisian kastiel (“castle”), Dutch kasteel (“castle”), German Kastell (“castle”), Danish kastel (“citadel”), Swedish kastell (“citadel”), Icelandic kastali (“castle”), Welsh castell. The late Old English word was borrowed from biblical Latin castellum which has been translated as town or village. With the sense of castle, from Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French castel (“castle”), itself from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”) (compare modern French château from Old French chastel). If Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”) is from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“hut, shed”), Latin casa (“cottage, hut”) is related. Possibly related also to Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌸𐌾𐍉 (hēþjō, “chamber”), Old English heaþor (“restraint, confinement, enclosure, prison”). See also casino, cassock.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.