# Quarter note > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Quarter_note > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Quarter_note.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_note > Source revision: 1350867606 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Musical note duration "Crotchet" redirects here. Not to be confused with [Crochet](/source/Crochet), the needlework technique. "♩" redirects here. For the general description of the symbol, see [Musical note](/source/Musical_note). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Quarter note" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message) A quarter note (crotchet) with stem pointing up, a quarter note with stem pointing down, and a quarter rest Four quarter notes 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ⓘ A **quarter note** ([AmE](/source/American_English)) or **crotchet** ([BrE](/source/British_English)) ([/ˈkrɒtʃɪt/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English)) is a [musical note](/source/Note_(music)) played for one quarter of the duration of a [whole note](/source/Whole_note) (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval [note head](/source/Note_head) and a straight, flagless [stem](/source/Stem_(music)). The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the [staff](/source/Musical_staff), and downwards if it is on or above the middle line. An upward stem is placed on the right side of the notehead, a downward stem is placed on the left (see image). The [Unicode](/source/Unicode) symbol is U+2669 (♩). A **quarter [rest](/source/Rest_(music))** (or **crotchet rest**) denotes a silence of the same duration as a quarter note or crotchet. It is notated with the symbol . In some older music it was notated with symbol .[a][1] ## History The quarter note equates to the *semiminima* ('half minim') of [mensural notation](/source/Mensural_notation). The word "crotchet" comes from [Old French](/source/Old_French) *crochet*, meaning 'little hook', diminutive of *[croc](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/croc#Old_French)*, 'hook', because of the hook used on the note in [black notation](/source/Mensural_notation) of the medieval period. As the name implies, a quarter note's duration is one quarter that of a whole note, half the length of a half note, and twice that of an eighth note. It represents one beat in a bar of **4** **4** time. The term "quarter note" is a [calque](/source/Calque) (loan-translation) of the German term *Viertelnote*. In the [Romance languages](/source/Romance_languages) of Catalan, French, Galician, and Spanish, the name of this note and its equivalent rest is derived from the [Latin](/source/Latin_language) *negra* meaning 'black'—as the *semiminima* was the longest note to be colored in [mensural white notation](/source/Mensural_notation). This is still true of the note's modern form. The Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Slovak names mean "quarter" (for the note) and "quarter's pause" (for the rest). ## See also - [List of musical symbols](/source/List_of_musical_symbols) ## Notes 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Examples of the older symbol are found in English music up to the late 19th century, e.g. W. A. Mozart *Requiem Mass*, vocal score ed. W. T. Best, pub. London: Novello & Co. Ltd. 1879. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *Rudiments and Theory of Music* Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London 1958. I,33 and III,25. The former section shows both forms without distinction, the latter the "old" form only. The book was the Official ABRSM theory manual in the UK up until at least 1975. The "old" form was taught as a manuscript variant of the printed form. 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 [Quarter note](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_note) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_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.