alto

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.təʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.toʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æltəʊ

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.

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

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

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

• alto on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

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

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

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

alto m

1. height (in measurements)

alto

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

   Impresionant o trazau per alto des monts

   The layout above the mountains is impressive.

3. loudly

   parlar alto

   to talk loudly

alto n sg

1. neuter singular of altu

From a shortening of alternatieveling or alternatief +‎ -o.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑl.toː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧to

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

alta +‎ -o.

• IPA^(key): /ˈalto/

• Audio:

  (file)

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,

     Pri kio morgaŭ prelegi al unujaraj volontuloj en la lernejo? Ĉu pri tio, kiel ni difinas la alton de monteto? Kial ni mezuras la alton ĉiam de la marnivelo? Kiel el altoj super la marnivelo elkalkuli propran alton de la monteto ekde ĝia piedo?

     What should he lecture on to the volunteers in the school tomorrow? How do we determined the height of a given hill? Why do we reckon the height from sea level? How can we establish from its height above sea level the height of a mountain from its foot? (Cecil Parrott translation, Heinemann, 1973)

   • (Can we date this quote?), Sergio Pokrovskij (translator), La Majstro kaj Margarita (The Master and Margarita) by Mikhail Bulgakov, Book Two, Chapter 24,

     [...] la peza fenestra kurteno ŝoviĝis flanken, la fenestro larĝe malfermiĝis kaj en la fora alto vidiĝis la plena [...] luno.

     the heavy curtain over the window was pushed aside, the window opened wide, and high above (lit. in the distant height) appeared the full moon.

• alteco

French Wikipedia has an article on:

alto

Wikipedia ^fr

• IPA^(key): /al.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

alto m (plural altos)

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

• → Persian: آلتو (âlto)

• “alto”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

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).

• IPA^(key):

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

1. tall
2. high

   Antonym: baixo

3. (nautical) deep

• altura

• alzar

alto m (plural altos)

1. top; high place

alto

1. high

• 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

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

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

alto

1. wave

• laine

• 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

alto

1. high

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈal.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alto
• Hyphenation: àl‧to

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

• → English: alto
• → German: Alt

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

• lato, talo

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

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

• IPA^(key): /əlˈto/
• Hyphenation: al‧to

altó

1. to float

   Synonyms: gato, lutang

From Latin altus.

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

1. high

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈal.toː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈal.to/,

From altus (“high, deep”) +‎ -ō.

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

1. to make high, raise, elevate

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

altō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of altus

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

altō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of altus

• “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, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) the tide is coming in: aestus ex alto se incitat (B. G. 3.12)
    
  • (ambiguous) the storm drives some one on an unknown coast: procella (tempestas) aliquem ex alto ad ignotas terras (oras) defert
    
  • (ambiguous) to make fast boats to anchors: naves (classem) constituere (in alto)
    

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

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,^[1] but which left an inherited descendant in Galician. See also outeiro, a related word.

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

• altamente
• altão (augmentative)
• altinho (diminutive)
• altíssimo (superlative)
• altura
• enaltecer

• alçar
• altitude

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

1. loud; loudly
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, translated by Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix] (Harry Potter; 5), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 445:

     Não fale tão alto...

     Don't speak so loud...

• Kabuverdianu: altu

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

alto!

1. halt!

• alto lá!

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

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,^[1] and its derivative otear and the rare or regional otar.^[2] Compare also archaic Galician outo (versus the standard alto today). See also the related Spanish otero (and Portuguese outeiro).

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)

alto m (plural altos)

1. height (in measurements)

alto

1. up, high, highly
2. loudly

   gritar alto

   scream loudly

Borrowed from German halt.

alto m (plural altos)

1. stop, halt
2. break, pause, rest
3. (traffic) stop (signal)
4. (traffic) red light

   Antonym: siga

¡alto!

1. halt!; stop!

• “alto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10