Meaning

noun the adult male singing voice above baritone

noun the pitch range of the highest male voice

noun an adult male with a tenor voice

originFrom Middle English tenour, from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Old French tenor (“substance, contents, meaning, sense; tenor part in music”), from Latin tenor (“course, continuance; holder”), from teneō (“to hold”). In music, from the notion of the one who holds the melody, as opposed to the countertenor.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0