castle

/ˈkæsəl/UK/ˈkɑːsəl/

castle noun: 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.

Image: Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

castle (plural castles)

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.

Synonyms:

fortress
An instance of castling.
(informal) A rook; a chess piece shaped like a castle tower.
A defense structure in shogi formed by defensive pieces surrounding the king.
(obsolete) A close helmet.
- The castle was perhaps a figurative name for a close headpiece deduced from its enclosing and defending the head, as a castle did the whole body; or a corruption from the Old French word casquetel, a small or light helmet.1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 12
(dated) Any strong, imposing, and stately palace or mansion.
(dated) A small tower, as on a ship, or an elephant's back.
(colloquial) The wicket.
- Nay, he was quite an adept, and was very effective as a change bowler, for in no time he demolished the castle of any batsman.1966, Gurdeep Singh, Cricket in Northern India, page 59

Verb

castle (third-person singular simple present castles, present participle castling, simple past and past participle castled)

(transitive) To house or keep in a castle.
- ...to encastle, to Castle.1611, John Florio, Queen Anna's New World of Words, s.v. "Castellare"
- ...Some fierce tribe, castled on the mountain-peak...1871, Robert Browning, Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society, section 116
Synonyms:

castellate, incastellate
(figuratively, transitive) To protect or separate in a similar way.
- Castle me in the armes of thy everlasting strength.1655, William Gurnall, The Christian in Compleat Armour, 1st Pt., 32
(obsolete) To make into a castle: to build in the form of a castle or add (real or imitation) battlements to an existing building.

Synonyms:

fortify
(intransitive, usually) 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.
- He [i.e., the king] may change (or Castle) with this Rooke, that is, he may goe two draughts at once towards this Rooke... causing the Rooke to stand next to him on either side.1656, Gioachino Greco, translated by Francis Beale, The Royall Game of Chesse-Play, Being the Study of Biochimo, page 8
- No. 24. ¶ If your adversary make a false move, castle improperly, &c., you must take notice of such irregularity before you move, or even touch a piece, or you are no longer allowed to inflict any penalties.1835, William Lewis, Chess for Beginners, Ch. 5, p. 24
(intransitive, usually) 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.
- And the 23-year-old brought the crowd to their feet when he castled Gayle's stumps, signalling the direction of the pavilion to his friend for good measure.2009, “Lightning Bolt Blows Over Gayle”, in BBC Sport
- He bowled Vinay with a full, straight ball that castled off stump and then dished up a yorker that RP Singh backed away to and sent onto his stumps.2011, Firdose Moonda, “A Day for Missed Hat-tricks”, in ESPNcricinfo

Proper noun capitalized: Castle

Castle (countable and uncountable, plural Castles)

(countable) A surname transferred from the common noun referring to someone who lived in or worked in a castle
(UK) Castle class, a class of steam locomotives used on the GWR
The first part of the name of certain nuclear tests by the US: Castle Bravo, Castle Romeo, Castle Yankee etc. See Operation Castle.
(UK, Durham University slang) University College, Durham, a constituent college located in Durham Castle
A hamlet in Bowerchalke parish, south-west Wiltshire, England (OS grid ref SU0122).
A community (without a council) in Cardiff, Wales; it includes Cardiff Castle.
A community (without a council) in Swansea, Wales; it includes Swansea Castle.
A town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, United States, derived from the surname.

castle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

castle in Hindi

fortified building: क़िला qilā, दुर्ग durg, गढ़ gaṛh, बुर्ज burj

castle in Tamil

fortified building: அரண்மனை araṇmaṉai, கோட்டை kōṭṭai

castle in Marathi

fortified building: किल्ला killā, दुर्ग durga, गड gaḍ

castle in Urdu

fortified building: دُرْگ durg, قِلْعَہ qil'a, قَلْعَہ qal'a, گَڑْھ gaṛh, بُرْج burj

More languagesFewer languages

castle in Bengali: কেল্লা kella, দুর্গ durgo, গঞ্জ gonj
castle in Malayalam: അരമന aramana
castle in Kannada: ಅರಮನೆ, ಕೋಟೆಮನೆ
castle in Punjabi: ਹਾਥੀ hāthī
castle in Sanskrit: दुर्ग durga
castle in Pashto: قصر qásər, کلا kalã
castle in Tagalog: kastilyo
castle in Arabic: قَلْعَة qalʕa, قِلْعَة qilʕa, بُرْج burj, قَصْر qaṣr
castle in Malay: istana, kastil
castle in Indonesian: puri, kastil
castle in Thai: ปราสาท bpraa-sàat
castle in Vietnamese: lâu đài
castle in Myanmar: ရဲတိုက် rai:tuik

Examples of castle in a sentence

William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
He was shut away in the castle tower for six months.
The angry peasants were a virtual army as they attacked the castle.

All 40 example sentences with castle

Synonyms of castle

Forms of castle

Noun
plural	castles
Verb
third-person singular present	castles
present participle	castling
past participle	castled
past	castled
Proper noun
plural	Castles

Plural of castle: castles

Origin of 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.

English surname, from the noun castle.

Words formed from castle

Questions about castle

What does castle mean?: Castle means 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.
What is castle in Hindi?: Castle in Hindi is क़िला (qilā), दुर्ग (durg), गढ़ (gaṛh). See Castle meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is castle?: Castle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce castle?: Castle is pronounced /ˈkɑːsəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of castle?: The plural of castle is castles.

Words near castle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: castle (page history and authors); Castle (page history and authors); അരമന (Malayalam) (page history and authors); castle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਹਾਥੀ (Punjabi) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-castle.ogg, En-au-castle.ogg.

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