alto

alto

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of alto in English

English Online Dictionary. What means alto‎? What does alto mean?

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian alto (“high”). Doublet of old.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈæl.təʊ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæl.toʊ/
  • Rhymes: -æltəʊ

Noun

alto (plural altos or alti)

  1. A musical part or section higher than tenor and lower than soprano, formerly the part that performed a countermelody above the tenor or main melody.
  2. A person or musical instrument that performs the alto part.
  3. (colloquial, music) An alto saxophone.

Usage notes

  • Nouns often modified by "alto": saxophone, clarinet, flute, recorder, part, solo, voice, singer.

Synonyms

  • (musical part or section): contratenor altus, high countertenor

Coordinate terms

  • (music) SATB (Initialism of soprano, alto, tenor, bass.)

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

  • alto on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

  • ATOL, Toal, a lot, alot, atlo-, lota, talo-, tola

Aragonese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin altus, ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈalto/
  • Rhymes: -alto
  • Syllabification: al‧to

Adjective

alto (feminine alta, masculine plural altos, feminine plural altas, superlative altismo)

  1. tall
    Antonym: baixo
    ixas zagalas son altas. ― Those girls are tall.
  2. high
    Antonym: baixo
    ye un numero alto. ― It's a high number.
  3. loud
    En voz alta. ― Out loud.
    alto y claro ― loud and clear
  4. upper, top

Noun

alto m

  1. height (in measurements)

Adverb

alto

  1. up, high, highly
  2. above, over
  3. loudly

Asturian

Adjective

alto n sg

  1. neuter singular of altu

Dutch

Etymology

From a shortening of alternatieveling or alternatief +‎ -o.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑl.toː/
  • Hyphenation: al‧to

Noun

alto m (plural alto's)

  1. (Netherlands, derogatory) someone who participates in an alternative subculture (e.g. a hipster, emo or punk)
    Synonyms: alternatieveling, alternativo

Esperanto

Etymology

alta +‎ -o.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈalto/

Noun

alto (accusative singular alton, plural altoj, accusative plural altojn)

  1. height; elevation; altitude
    • (Can we date this quote?), Vladimír Váňa (translator), Aventuroj de la Brava Soldato Ŝvejk dum la Mondmilito (The Good Soldier Švejk) by Jaroslav Hašek, Part 1, Chapter 15,
    • (Can we date this quote?), Sergio Pokrovskij (translator), La Majstro kaj Margarita (The Master and Margarita) by Mikhail Bulgakov, Book Two, Chapter 24,

See also

  • alteco

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /al.to/

Noun

alto m (plural altos)

  1. (music) alto
  2. (music) Ellipsis of violon alto.; viola

Descendants

  • → Persian: آلتو (âlto)

Further reading

  • “alto”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese alto, from Latin altus. This form is probably semi-learned or influenced by learned orthography, as with Portuguese alto and Spanish alto. Cf. also the now archaic form outo, which was probably popularly inherited from an unattested hypothetical *outo, present also in place names as Montouto (“High-hill”), from the same Latin word (compare also Old Spanish oto).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈaltʊ]

Adjective

alto (feminine alta, masculine plural altos, feminine plural altas)

  1. tall
  2. high
    Antonym: baixo
  3. (nautical) deep

Derived terms

  • altura

Related terms

  • alzar

Noun

alto m (plural altos)

  1. top; high place

Adverb

alto

  1. high

References

  • Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “alto”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
  • Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “alto”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
  • Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “alto”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
  • Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “alto”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
  • Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “alto”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *alto. Cognates include Finnish aalto (dialectal alto) and dialectal Estonian ald.

Pronunciation

  • (Ala-Laukaa) IPA(key): /ˈɑlto/, [ˈɑɫtŏ̞̥]
  • (Soikkola) IPA(key): /ˈɑlto/, [ˈɑɫd̥o̞]
  • (Hevaha) IPA(key): /ˈɑlto/, [ˈɑɫd̥o̞]
  • Rhymes: -ɑlto
  • Hyphenation: al‧to

Noun

alto

  1. wave

Declension

Synonyms

  • laine

References

  • Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 11
  • Arvo Laanest (1997) Isuri keele Hevaha murde sõnastik, Eesti Keele Instituut, page 19

Istriot

Adjective

alto

  1. high

Italian

Etymology

From Latin altus (“high”), from Proto-Italic *altos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós, derived from the root *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”). Cognate with English old and Welsh allt.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈal.to/
  • Rhymes: -alto
  • Hyphenation: àl‧to

Adjective

alto (feminine alta, masculine plural alti, feminine plural alte, superlative altissimo)

  1. high, tall
    Antonym: basso
    L'uomo alto è mio padre. ― The tall man is my father.
  2. deep
    uno stagno alto 4 metri ― a pond 4 meters deep
  3. loud
    ad alta voce ― in a loud voice

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

  • → English: alto
  • → German: Alt

Further reading

  • alto in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

  • lato, talo

Kapampangan

Alternative forms

  • altao (obsolete, Spanish orthography)
  • altau (archaic)
  • altaw (archaic, Súlat Wáwâ)

Etymology

From earlier altau, metathesis from Proto-Philippine *lətaw. Compare Tagalog litaw and Cebuano lutaw.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əlˈto/ [əlˈtoː]
  • Hyphenation: al‧to

Verb

altó

  1. to float
    Synonyms: gato, lutang

Derived terms

Ladino

Etymology

From Latin altus.

Adjective

alto (Latin spelling, feminine alta, masculine plural altos, feminine plural altas)

  1. high

Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈal.toː/, [ˈäɫ̪t̪oː]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈal.to/, [ˈäl̪t̪o]

Etymology 1

From altus (“high, deep”) +‎ -ō.

Verb

altō (present infinitive altāre); first conjugation, no perfect or supine stem

  1. to make high, raise, elevate
Conjugation

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

altō

  1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of altus

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

altō

  1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of altus

References

  • “alto”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • alto in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • alto in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • (Rural Central Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈaw.tʷ/
  • Homophone: auto (Brazil)
  • Rhymes: (Portugal) -altu, (Brazil) -awtu
  • Hyphenation: al‧to

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese alto, from Latin altus, ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin. This form is likely a semi-learned term, or was influenced by learned elements of the language and uses such an orthography, as with Galician and Spanish alto (which have popularly inherited variants outo and oto, respectively). There was once likely an *outo in Old Galician-Portuguese that is not attested, but which left an inherited descendant in Galician. See also outeiro, a related word.

Adjective

alto (feminine alta, masculine plural altos, feminine plural altas, comparable, comparative mais alto, superlative o mais alto or altíssimo, diminutive altinho, augmentative altão)

  1. loud
  2. tall
  3. high
  4. (informal) excessive, extreme
Derived terms
  • altamente
  • altão (augmentative)
  • altinho (diminutive)
  • altíssimo (superlative)
  • altura
  • enaltecer
Related terms
  • alçar
  • altitude

Adverb

alto (comparable, comparative mais alto, superlative o mais alto)

  1. loud; loudly

Descendants

  • Kabuverdianu: altu

Etymology 2

From German halt, imperative form of German halten (“stop”).

Interjection

alto!

  1. halt!

See also

  • alto lá!

References

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈalto/ [ˈal̪.t̪o]
  • Rhymes: -alto
  • Syllabification: al‧to

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin altus, ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin. The form alto represents a pronunciation influenced by the most learned layers of the language, and is not the normal phonetic result expected in a naturally inherited word. Cf. the now archaic form oto, which was used more often in Old Spanish and is the form of the word that was completely popularly inherited, preserved in some toponyms/placenames, and its derivative otear and the rare or regional otar. Compare also archaic Galician outo (versus the standard alto today). See also the related Spanish otero (and Portuguese outeiro).

Adjective

alto (feminine alta, masculine plural altos, feminine plural altas, superlative altísimo)

  1. tall
    Antonym: bajo
    Esas chicas son altas. ― Those girls are tall.
  2. high
    Antonym: bajo
    Es un número alto. ― It's a high number.
  3. loud
    En voz alta. ― Out loud.
    alto y claro ― loud and clear
  4. upper, top
  5. senior (rank)
Derived terms
Related terms

Noun

alto m (plural altos)

  1. height (in measurements)

Adverb

alto

  1. up, high, highly
  2. loudly

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German halt.

Noun

alto m (plural altos)

  1. stop, halt
  2. break, pause, rest
  3. (traffic) stop (signal)
  4. (traffic) red light
    Antonym: siga
Derived terms

Interjection

¡alto!

  1. halt!; stop!

Further reading

  • “alto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

References

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realtor

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.