unchaste

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + chaste.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The base is from Old French chaste (“morally pure”), from Latin castus (“clean, pure, morally pure”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, lacking chastity, impure: 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, at Revelation 22:15.^[2] Etymonline likewise dates the sense "sexually impure, lecherous, lascivious" to the late 14th century,^[3] and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was tied to sexual conduct, and it has kept that meaning.^[2][3] In Middle English unchaste could also serve as a noun for lewdness, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus before 1398,^[7] and Gower has it in the form thunchaste.^[8] It was extended from persons to their life and habits by 1541, in an Act of Henry VIII.^[2] Johnson (1755) glossed it "Lewd; libidinous; not continent; not chaste; not pure", with a quotation from Sidney.^[9] The noun unchastity is also recorded from the late 14th century,^[3] while unchasteness follows in the mid 16th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1382 – of a person, not chaste.^[2]
• before 1398 – noun, unchasteness, lewdness.^[7]
• 1541 – of life or habits, impure.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person, not chaste; lacking chastity, or no longer a virgin.^[6][10][2]
2. Of behaviour or a way of life, impure, indecent or lascivious.^[10][6][2]

Word family

• unchastely
• unchasteness
• unchastity

Related words

• chaste
• caste

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins