Canto

//ˈkæntəʊ// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One of the chief divisions of a long poem; a book.
  2. 2
    The Cantonese language. informal, uncountable

    "I think most people born here can’t speak it, but they understand it. It’s so strange that my Chinese friends can speak Canto, and my Japanese friends can speak their language, but it doesn’t work that way for us here"

  3. 3
    a major division of a long poem wordnet
  4. 4
    The treble or leading melody.
  5. 5
    the highest part (usually the melody) in a piece of choral music wordnet
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    The designated division of a song.

Synonyms

All synonyms
accompanimentairaltoantistropheariabaritone

Example

More examples

"In Siena neighbors started singing a traditional Tuscan folk song, Il Canto della Verbena, one of the town's most cherished melodies and sung since the Middle Ages."

Etymology

From Italian canto (“song”). Doublet of chant.

Related phrases

canto fermo

More for "canto"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.