vestal

Meanings

Adjective

• Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth.
• Pure; chaste.

Noun

• A virgin consecrated to Vesta, and to the service of watching the sacred fire, which was to be perpetually kept burning upon her altar; a vestal virgin.
• A female virgin; a woman who has never had sexual relations.
• A nun.

Origin

• From Latin Vesta, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. More at was.