An Italian term meaning somewhat, half, or medium. In dynamics, it is often used to modify other musical terms as mezzo forte (medium loud or literally half as loud as forte), mezzo piano (medium soft or literally half again louder than piano), or in voices, mezzo soprano (a voice type with a rangehalf-way between the highest and lowest female voice types), and mezza voce (halfvoice). The masculine form of this term is mezzo and the feminine form is mezza.