Half note
A half note is an open oval with a stem. It lasts half as long as a whole note, or as long as two quarter notes. In Britain it is called a minim.
How to read it
The half note has the open head of a whole note with a stem added. Two half notes last as long as a whole note, and one half note as long as two quarter notes. In 4/4 time a half note takes up half a measure. A filled head with a stem is a quarter note; the open head is what makes it a half note.
Also searched as: minim.
Why it is called a minim
The British name comes from the Latin minima, “the least”, because the minim was once the shortest note. Stainer and Barrett’s dictionary (1898) says that in early music it was, as its name implies, of the shortest duration. It cites Thomas Morley’s Introduction to Practical Musicke (1601), which credits its first use to a 14th-century musician Stainer and Barrett call Philippo de Vitriaco.
British and American names
Half note is the American name and minim the British one. The German name, Halbnote, is also “half note”.
More music symbols
Sources
- Music Notation and Terminology, Karl W. Gehrkens, 1914, A. S. Barnes Company (Project Gutenberg), Chapter III, §28, §30–31
- 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), Minim
- Elson's Music Dictionary, Louis C. Elson, 1905, Oliver Ditson Company (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Minima
- Primer of Facts about Music, M. G. Evans, 1909, Theodore Presser Co. (Internet Archive, University of Toronto), Q. 14
- Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom: Durational Symbols, Robert Hutchinson, section 4.2, University of Puget Sound, Section 4.2
- SMuFL: Individual notes, Standard Music Font Layout, glyph table U+E1D0–U+E1EF, W3C Music Notation Community Group, U+E1D3
Last reviewed September 26, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research