The quality or state of being chaste; sexual purity, moral virtue, or restraint.
From 'chaste' plus the abstract noun suffix '-ness,' creating a noun form that describes the quality itself. This formation became common in Middle English for discussing virtue.
In medieval literature, 'chasteness' was considered one of the most valued virtues—it was celebrated in poetry and legend so much that some of history's most famous stories center entirely around this one quality.
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