basso profondo

English

Etymology

Italian basso profondo (“deep bass”).

Noun

basso profondo (plural basso profondos)

1. (music) A singer with a bass voice of the lowest range.
   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 40:

     I am normally a low baritone, almost basso profundo [sic], but under certain kinds of provocations my voice disappears into the higher registers, perhaps into the bat range.

2. (music) A bass voice of the lowest range.