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SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

alto.

tall

4 characters2 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈalto/[ˈal̪.t̪o]

  1. tall

    Esas chicas son altas.

  2. high

    Es un número alto.

  3. loud

    En voz alta.
    alto y claro

  4. upper, top

  5. senior (rank)

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós Proto-Italic *altos Latin altuslbor. Spanish alto Learned borrowing from Latin altus, ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin. The form alto represents a pronunciation influenced by the most learned layers of the language, and is not the normal phonetic result expected in a naturally inherited word. Cf. the now archaic form oto, which was used more often in Old Spanish and is the form of the word that was completely popularly inherited, preserved in some toponyms/placenames, and its derivative otear and the rare or regional otar. Compare also archaic Galician outo (versus the standard alto today). See also the related Spanish otero (and Portuguese outeiro).

noun/ˈalto/[ˈal̪.t̪o]

  1. height (in measurements)

    masculine
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós Proto-Italic *altos Latin altuslbor. Spanish alto Learned borrowing from Latin altus, ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin. The form alto represents a pronunciation influenced by the most learned layers of the language, and is not the normal phonetic result expected in a naturally inherited word. Cf. the now archaic form oto, which was used more often in Old Spanish and is the form of the word that was completely popularly inherited, preserved in some toponyms/placenames, and its derivative otear and the rare or regional otar. Compare also archaic Galician outo (versus the standard alto today). See also the related Spanish otero (and Portuguese outeiro).

adv/ˈalto/[ˈal̪.t̪o]

  1. up, high, highly

  2. loudly

    gritar alto
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós Proto-Italic *altos Latin altuslbor. Spanish alto Learned borrowing from Latin altus, ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin. The form alto represents a pronunciation influenced by the most learned layers of the language, and is not the normal phonetic result expected in a naturally inherited word. Cf. the now archaic form oto, which was used more often in Old Spanish and is the form of the word that was completely popularly inherited, preserved in some toponyms/placenames, and its derivative otear and the rare or regional otar. Compare also archaic Galician outo (versus the standard alto today). See also the related Spanish otero (and Portuguese outeiro).

noun/ˈalto/[ˈal̪.t̪o]

  1. stop, halt

    masculine

  2. break, pause, rest

    masculine

  3. stop (signal)

    masculine

  4. red light

    masculine
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from German halt.

intj/ˈalto/[ˈal̪.t̪o]

  1. halt!; stop!

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from German halt.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.