A singing voice that is lower than a soprano but higher than a tenor, often sung by women or boys. It can also refer to the part of music written for that voice.
From Italian *alto*, meaning “high,” from Latin *altus* (“high, deep”). In early choral music, the *contralto* part was the “high” voice above the tenor, which is why the word for “high” ended up labeling a relatively low female voice today.
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