Canto Meaning
/ˈkæntəʊ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounOne of the chief divisions of a long poem; a book.
nounThe treble or leading melody.
Sentence Examples
The poem is divided into several long cantos.
I particularly enjoyed the third canto of the epic.
The poet read the third canto of his epic poem aloud.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In the second ____ of the epic poem, the hero begins his journey across the sea.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I finished reading the first ____ of the long epic poem tonight city.
Word Origin & History
From Italian canto (“song”). Doublet of chant.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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"
— 2016, Emilie Santos Tumale, quoting “James”, Challenging the Stigmas: A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Filipino American Community College Students, University of California Los Angeles, page 50:
"In reaction to when the Chinese girls would speak Canto or Mando around us, we created a language – we came up with a language."
— 2019, Christina Ho, quoting Blaise, “Angry Anglos and aspirational Asians: everyday multiculturalism in the selective school system in Sydney”, in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, volume 40, number 4, →DOI, page 521:
"But Mandarin is the bigger language anyway, not many other parts of China speak Canto."
— 2022, Zahid Ramzan Mohamed Mughal, quoting Emily, Walking the cosmopolitan talk: mapping expatriate identities in postcolonial Hong Kong, Keele University, archived from the original on 12 May 2022, page 62:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In the second ____ of the epic poem, the hero begins his journey across the sea.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I finished reading the first ____ of the long epic poem tonight city.