castrato

American  

[ka-strah-toh, kuh-, kah-strah-taw] / kæˈstrɑ toʊ, kə-, kɑˈstrɑ tɔ /

noun

castrati plural

1. a male singer, especially in the 18th century, castrated before puberty to prevent his soprano or contralto voice range from changing.

---

castrato British  

/ kæˈstrɑːtəʊ /

noun

1. (in 17th- and 18th-century opera) a male singer whose testicles were removed before puberty, allowing the retention of a soprano or alto voice

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• castrati
  plural

Etymology

Origin of castrato

1755–65; < Italian < Latin castrāt ( us ); see castrate

Example Sentences

Bonnie Gordon is an associate professor of music at the University of Virginia and is writing a book called Voice Machines: The Castrato, The Cat Piano and Other Strange Sounds.

From Slate • May 15, 2012

The youth sighed and replied, "I am a stranger;" and quoth the Castrato, "From what land art thou and who is thy sire?"

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 11 [Supplement] by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

So the Castrato went and gave the order as we have related and paid the price and, when the pastrycook had made his requirement, he carried it away to the presence.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 16 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

The king marvelled, he and his, and praised the Lord for that he had come thither; after which he turned to the Castrato and said to him, "What is this youth thou hast with thee?"

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 11 [Supplement] by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

When night came, Pasquale, after carefully bolting and barring up his house, carried the little monster of a Castrato home.

From The Serapion Brethren. Vol. II by Hoffmann, Ernst Theordor Wilhelm