semiquaver

8.0

A very short musical note that lasts one sixteenth of a whole note

noun
/ˈsɛmiˌkwɑvər/

: semicorchea

In the sheet music, each note is a semiquaver, lasting just a fraction of a second.

Examples

When counting the beats, remember that a semiquaver is equal to one-sixteenth of a whole note.
Piero here is the semiquaver, and Carlo is the rest... ... the pause between the notes.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
She sent us four quavers a group of five quavers, a group of four semiquavers.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The tunes and the themes were all hurried, sketched with not a semiquaver more than necessary, the page balanced by a hand or a knee, yet the music was always captured with ease and precision.

Fiction book (1995)
The musician played a rapid sequence of semiquavers, creating a lively and energetic melody.

Synonyms

sixteenth note

vssemiquaver

Specialized

1 5.8

A very short sound in music that lasts one sixteenth of a whole note

is an alternative name used instead of the other term

How Long

whole note

Specialized

1 4.2

half note

Specialized

1 3.6

quarter note

Specialized

1 3.9

eighth note

Specialized

1 4.8

semiquaver

8.0

thirty-second note

Specialized

8.4

Surface Forms

semiquaver singular

semiquavers plural

Morphology

semiquaver = quaver (semi-transparent) = semi + quaver

The form is a clear combination of 'semi-' and 'quaver', but the term is specialized to musical notation rather than a fully general everyday meaning.

Etymology

The word semiquaver starts with semi- meaning 'half' and ends with quaver, the name for an eighth note that comes from a word meaning 'to shake'. So a semiquaver is half a quaver and therefore the fast sixteenth note.