sotto

S1O1T1T1O1
UK/ˈsəʊtəʊ/UK/ˈsɒtəʊ/UK[ˈsotːo]

proper noun

A surname.

Less commonScrabble 5

Meanings

sotto1

adverbsotto (not comparable)
  1. abbreviationellipsisnot comparableEllipsis of sotto voce.

    Jimi’s guitar plays flat against the major chord, giving a strange, almost discordant effect. Mitch on drums is behind the bass sotto.

    1978–81, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (1983), page 104
    1 more example

    Wolowitz: Énchanté, mademoiselle. Howard Wolowitz, Cal Tech department of applied physics. You may be familiar with some of my work – – it’s currently toodling around the surface of Mars. Penny: Hi. Penny. Wolowitz: You smell wonderful. What is that scent you’re wearing? Penny: It’s called b.o. Wolowitz: Ah. Hence the shower, of course. Leonard, where have you been hiding this one? She’s charming. Sheldon: (SOTTO, TO LEONARD) Oh, he’s good.

    2006 October 2nd, Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory, “Pilot”, screenplay (revised first draft), act one, scene A (page 27)
adjectivesotto (not comparable)
  1. abbreviationellipsisnot comparableEllipsis of sotto voce.

    The twelve string rings out but Jimi’s voice is sotto, intimate.

    2008, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child, page 192
    2 more examples

    Playing against the effect, Wood plays single sotto lines with a variation on the key that sustains a minor mode against the finely tuned feedback effects stroked in pinks against the upper canvas.

    1978–81, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (1983), page 237

    ‘Assuming these board scores are accurate reflectors of true capacity in this case,’ Academic Affairs says, his high voice serious and sotto,[…]

    1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 7

Sotto2

proper nounSotto (plural Sottos)

plural Sottos

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

sotto · adverb, adjective

Ellipsis of sotto voce.

Full word history & related roots →

Sotto · proper noun

  1. SpanishSoto
  2. EnglishSotto

Variant of Spanish Soto, mostly borne by Filipinos.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with sotto

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

sotto. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sotto

MLA

“sotto.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sotto. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sotto,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sotto.

Source: sotto on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.