castrato Hear it!

castrato definition

cas·trato (käs trät′ō)

noun pl. castrati -·ti (-ē)

a singer castrated as a boy to preserve the soprano or contralto range of his voice, esp. in 16th-18th cent. Italy

Etymology: It < L castratus: see castrate

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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castrato55 years ago

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