What does "castrato" mean?

A male who has been castrated, especially a male whose testicles have been removed before puberty in order to retain his boyish voice.

What is a synonym for "castrato"?

Common synonyms include: dud, flash in the pan, gelding, impotent, incompetent, invalid.

Pronounced //kæsˈtɹɑː.təʊ//.

//kæsˈtɹɑː.təʊ// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A male who has been castrated, especially a male whose testicles have been removed before puberty in order to retain his boyish voice.
"A castrato stepped forward, a slender / young man with earnest grey eyes."
2
a male singer who was castrated before puberty and retains a soprano or alto voice wordnet
3
A male soprano or alto voice produced by castration of the treble singer before puberty, intended to conserve his voice; the singer.
"As contexts shift, so does generational taste. Just ask the castrati – the high-voiced boy singers displaced when Enlightenment liberalism restored female performers to the stage."

Adjective

1
Castrated; especially castrated prepubescently. literally, not-comparable
2
Having, using or containing the voice of a castrato (noun). not-comparable
3
Originally composed for a castrato. not-comparable
"Nowadays, either women or countertenors take the castrato roles."

"A castrato stepped forward, a slender / young man with earnest grey eyes."

From Italian castrato, from Latin castrō (“to castrate”), likely from caedō (“to cut”).

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