Eighth note
An eighth note is a filled-in oval with a stem and one flag. It lasts half as long as a quarter note. In Britain it is called a quaver.
Easily confused with
How to read it
Eight eighth notes last as long as a whole note, and two as long as a quarter note. When several eighth notes come together, their flags are usually replaced by a straight stroke, a beam, joining the stems. Beaming notes this way began around 1700.
Also searched as: quaver.
Look-alikes
A sixteenth note has two flags, or two beams when grouped. A quarter note has no flag at all.
Names in other countries
Quaver is the British name. In France the eighth note is the croche, which Stainer and Barrett’s dictionary glosses as “the hooked note”; in Germany it is the Achtelnote, the “eighth note”.
Read next
- Next in Music symbolsSixteenth noteA sixteenth note is a filled-in oval with a stem and two flags. It lasts half as long as an eighth note. In Britain it is called a semiquaver.
- The same shape in Air Force ranksChief master sergeant (E-9)Chief master sergeant, pay grade E-9: the highest of the senior noncommissioned officer ranks in the US Air Force. The insignia is five stripes below a star in a circle and three stripes above it.
More music symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles, curves and waves or lines.
Sources
- Music Notation and Terminology, Karl W. Gehrkens, 1914, A. S. Barnes Company (Project Gutenberg), Chapter III, §30–31; Appendix A
- Primer of Facts about Music, M. G. Evans, 1909, Theodore Presser Co. (Internet Archive, University of Toronto), Q. 14
- Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms, John Stainer and W. A. Barrett, new and revised edition, 1898, Novello (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Quaver; Croche
- SMuFL: Individual notes, Standard Music Font Layout, glyph table U+E1D0–U+E1EF, W3C Music Notation Community Group, U+E1D7
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 26, 2026. How we research
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