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”.
More music symbols
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
Last reviewed September 26, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research