# Eighth note > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eighth_note > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eighth_note.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_note > Source revision: 1327841005 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Musical note duration "Quaver" redirects here. For the British snack food, see [Quavers](/source/Quavers). "♫" and "♪" redirect here. For the general description of the symbol, see [Musical note](/source/Musical_note). This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (June 2025) **Figure 1.** An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. **Figure 2.** Four eighth notes beamed together. Comparison of duple note values: = 2×, etc. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Duple_note_values) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3ADuple_note_values) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Duple_note_values) v t e Drum pattern, s on bass and snare, accompanied by ride patterns of various duple lengths from to 128th (all at =60) 1ⓘ 2ⓘ 4ⓘ 8ⓘ 16ⓘ 32ⓘ 64ⓘ 128ⓘ An **eighth note** ([American](/source/American_English)) or a **quaver** ([British](/source/British_English)) is a musical note played for one eighth the duration of a [whole note](/source/Whole_note) (semibreve). Its length relative to other rhythmic values is as expected—e.g., half the duration of a [quarter note](/source/Quarter_note) (crotchet), one quarter the duration of a [half note](/source/Half_note) (minim), and twice the value of a [sixteenth note](/source/Sixteenth_note). It is the equivalent of the *fusa* in [mensural notation](/source/Mensural_notation).[1] ## Notation Eighth notes are notated with an oval, filled-in note head and a straight [note stem](/source/Note_stem) with one [note flag](/source/Note_value) (see Figure 1). The stem is on the right of the notehead extending upwards or on the left extending downwards, depending primarily on where the notehead lies relative to the middle line of the staff. A related symbol is the eighth rest (or quaver rest), which denotes a silence for the same duration.[2][3] Eighth notes may be beamed together in groups (Figure 2). In **3** **8**, **6** **8**, **9** **8**, and **12** **8** they are typically beamed in groups of three. A single eighth note is always stemmed with a flag, while two or more are usually beamed in groups[4] in instrumental music. In [Unicode](/source/Unicode), the symbol U+266A (♪) is a single eighth note and U+266B (♫) is a beamed pair of eighth notes. These symbols are inherited from the early 1980s [code page 437](/source/Code_page_437), where they occupied codes 13 and 14 respectively. Additions to the Unicode standard incorporated eighth note depictions from Japanese [emoji](/source/Emoji) sets: ascending eighth notes (U+1F39C, 🎜), descending eighth notes (U+1F39D, 🎝), a graphical generic musical note generally depicted as an eighth note (U+1F3B5, 🎵), and three unconnected eighth notes in sequence (U+1F3B6, 🎶). All of these are graphical [dingbats](/source/Dingbat). In contrast, Unicode's [Musical Symbols](/source/Musical_Symbols_(Unicode_block)) block includes eighth note symbols designed to be used in computerized musical notation. ## See also - [List of musical symbols](/source/List_of_musical_symbols) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-GroveDict2001_Quaver_1-0)** Morehen, John; Rastall, Richard (2001). "Quaver". In [Sadie, Stanley](/source/Stanley_Sadie); [Tyrrell, John](/source/John_Tyrrell_(professor_of_music)) (eds.). *[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians](/source/The_New_Grove_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians)* (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780195170672](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780195170672). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-EighthRest2016_OMD_2-0)** ["Eighth Rest"](https://dictionary.onmusic.org/terms/1282-eighth_rest). *On Music Dictionary*. 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2018. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-QuaverDictionaryWeb_3-0)** ["Quaver"](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/quaver). *Dictionary.com*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Gerou1996_211_4-0)** Gerou, Tom (1996). *Essential Dictionary of Music Notation*. Alfred. p. 211. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-88284-730-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-88284-730-9). v t e Musical note values Note and rest lengths Octuple whole note (maxima) Quadruple whole note (longa) Double whole note (breve) Whole note (semibreve) Half note (minim) Quarter note (crotchet) Eighth note (quaver) Sixteenth note (semiquaver) Thirty-second note (demisemiquaver) Sixty-fourth note (hemidemisemiquaver) Hundred twenty-eighth note (semihemidemisemiquaver) Two hundred fifty-sixth note (demisemihemidemisemiquaver) ... Variations Dotted note Grace note Swung note Tremolo Tuplet --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eighth note](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_note) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_note?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.