Word.ws English Dictionary

castellan

/ˈkæstələn/

castellan noun: a feudal lord with a fortified manor.

Noun

castellan (plural castellans)

  1. (obsolete) A feudal lord with a fortified manor.
  2. (historical) The governor or caretaker entrusted to oversee a castle or keep for its lord.
    • The inferior secular senators are ninety-two, containing the ten crown-officers, and eighty-two castellans. The latter are again divided into thirty-three great castellans, and forty-nine little castellans.1851, Luther Calvin Saxton, Fall of Poland, volume 2, Charles Scribner, page 442
    • Castellans, often exercising control over a few villages and half a dozen small lordships, transformed their banal lordships into quasi-sovereign mini-states, independent of royal or comital sanction or control.2003, Benno Teschke, The Myth of 1648: Class, Geopolitics, and the Making of Modern International Relations, Verso, page 86

castellan meaning in Marathi, Bengali and Arabic

castellan in Marathi

governor or caretaker of a castle or keep
कॅस्टेलन kĕsṭelan

castellan in Bengali

দুর্গের শাসক, রক্ষক

castellan in Arabic

governor or caretaker of a castle or keep
حَاكِم قَلْعَة ḥākim qalʕa, حَاكِم قِلْعَة ḥākim qilʕa

Synonyms of castellan

Forms of castellan

pluralcastellans

Origin of castellan

From Middle English castelain, from Old French castelain (compare modern châtelain), from Latin castellanus (“pertaining to a castle, an occupant of a castle, or a governor of a castle”), from castellum castle, citadel, diminutive of castrum fortified place. See castle. By surface analysis, Old French castel + -an and castle + -an. Doublet of Castilian, castellano, castellanus, and chatelain /chatelaine.

Words formed from castellan

Questions about castellan

What does castellan mean?
Castellan means a feudal lord with a fortified manor.
What is castellan in Marathi?
Castellan in Marathi is कॅस्टेलन (kĕsṭelan). See Castellan meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is castellan?
Castellan is a noun.
How do you pronounce castellan?
Castellan is pronounced /ˈkæstələn/.
What is the plural of castellan?
The plural of castellan is castellans.

Words near castellan in the dictionary

  1. castelets
  2. Castelgandolfo
  3. castelike
  4. castell
  5. castella
  6. castellan
  7. Castellaneta
  8. Castellanetas
  9. castellani
  10. castellanies
  11. Castellanis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: castellan (page history and authors); castellan (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-castellan.wav.

Cite this entry: “castellan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/castellan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.