countertenor
countertenor noun: an adult male singer who uses head tone or falsetto to sing far higher than the typical male vocal range.
Noun
countertenor (plural countertenors)
- An adult male singer who uses head tone or falsetto to sing far higher than the typical male vocal range.
- A male singing voice far higher than the typical male vocal range.
- The term countertenor first appeared in England during the mid 17th century. However, the style of singing originated in Elizabethan cathedral choirs, eventually falling out of favour during the Romantic period.2014 August 8, Rupert Christiansen, “The truth about falsettos [print version: 12 August 2014, p. R8]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)
- A part or section performing a countermelody against the tenor or main part.
Forms of countertenor
| plural | countertenors |
|---|---|
| alternative form | counter-tenor |
| alternative form | counter tenor |
Origin of countertenor
From Latin contrātenor. By surface analysis, counter- + tenor.
Phrases with countertenor
Questions about countertenor
- What does countertenor mean?
- Countertenor means an adult male singer who uses head tone or falsetto to sing far higher than the typical male vocal range.
- What part of speech is countertenor?
- Countertenor is a noun.
- What is the plural of countertenor?
- The plural of countertenor is countertenors.
Words near countertenor in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: countertenor (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-countertenor.wav.
Cite this entry: “countertenor.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/countertenor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.