Standard Lemma guide

semiquaver

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈsɛmiˌkweɪvə(ɹ)/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A sixteenth note, drawn as a crotchet with two tails.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a musical note having the time value of a sixteenth of a whole note

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sixteenth note

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: note, musical note, tone

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *sēmi Latin sēmi-bor. English semi- English quaver English semiquaver From semi- + quaver.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: onaltılıq not — music
  • Basque: kortxeaerdi — music
  • Bulgarian: шестнадесетина нота (šestnadesetina nota) — music
  • Chinese Mandarin: 十六分音符 (shíliùfēn yīnfú) — music
  • Finnish: kuudestoistaosanuotti — music
  • French: double croche — music
  • Galician: semicorchea — music
  • German: Sechzehntelnote — music
  • Greek: δέκατο έκτο (dékato ékto) — music
  • Hungarian: tizenhatod — music
  • Icelandic: sextándapartsnóta — music
  • Icelandic: sextándipartur — music
  • Italian: semicroma — music
  • Japanese: 十六分音符 (jūrokubun onpu) — music
  • Korean: 십육분음표 (sibyukbuneumpyo) — music
  • Māori: orohauwhā — music
  • Polish: szesnastka — music
  • Portuguese: semicolcheia — music
  • Russian: шестна́дцатая (šestnádcataja) — music
  • Russian: шестна́дцатая но́та (šestnádcataja nóta) — music
  • Scottish Gaelic: leth-chaman — music
  • Slovene: šestnajstinka — music
  • Spanish: semicorchea — music
  • Swedish: sextondelsnot — music
  • Vietnamese: móc kép — music
  • Vietnamese: nốt móc kép — music