ETYM Latin, properly p. p. of castrare. Related to Castrate.
A male singer who was castrated before puberty and retains a soprano or alto voice.
In music, a high male voice of unusual brilliance and power achieved by castration before puberty, regarded as the ideal timbre for heroic roles in opera by composers from Monteverdi to Wagner. Recordings preserve the voice of Alessandro Moreschi (1858–1922), the last male soprano of the Sistine Chapel.
Castration interrupts the normal growth of the vocal folds in the larynx at puberty, preventing the mature male voice from descending in pitch, while allowing vocal prowess to benefit from adult growth in all other respects.
(Italian) treble or alto male singer whose voice was prevented from breaking by castration. + prikaži više

ETYM Latin eunuchus, Greek, prop., keeping or guarding the couch; eune couch, bed, + echein to have, hold, keep.
Castrated man. Originally eunuchs were bedchamber attendants in harems in the East, but as they were usually castrated to keep them from taking too great an interest in their charges, the term became applied more generally. In China, eunuchs were employed within the imperial harem from some 4,000 years ago and by medieval times wielded considerable political power. Eunuchs often filled high offices of state in India and Persia.
Italian castrati were singers castrated as boys to preserve their soprano voices, a practice that ended with the accession of Pope Leo XIII 1878.
A man who has been castrated and is incapable of reproduction; SYN. castrate. + prikaži više