crotchet

[ kroch-it ]

noun

1. an odd fancy or whimsical notion.

   Synonyms: oddity, quirk, eccentricity, whimsy, caprice

2. a small hook.
3. a hooklike device or part.
4. Entomology. a small, hooklike process.
5. Music. Chiefly British. a quarter note.
6. a curved surgical instrument with a sharp hook.

crotchet

/ ˈkrɒtʃɪt /

noun

1. music a note having the time value of a quarter of a semibreve Usual US and Canadian namequarter note
2. a small hook or hooklike device
3. a perverse notion
4. zoology a small notched or hooked process, as in an insect

Word History and Origins

Origin of crotchet¹

1350–1400; Middle English crochet hook, staff with hook at end < Middle French ( crochet ); doublet of crocket

Word History and Origins

Origin of crotchet¹

C14: from Old French crochet, literally: little hook, from croche hook; see crocket

Example Sentences

Ms Crofts described the crotchet part of the project as a "labour of love", and said she took it with her wherever she went so she could work on it during spare moments.

From BBC

It’s also even in more mundane ways, in cross-stitch, in crotchet and quilting, creating beauty literally from the scraps on the margins.

From Washington Post

Maybe you already sew, crotchet, build furniture, compose music or write short stories.

From Seattle Times

The relation a lived life bears to the black marks on the page is more akin to the way musicians turn minims and crotchets into the sublime craziness, of, say, Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge.

From The Guardian

What binds the stories are the tight relationships of Varg and his colleagues and their hilariously human crotchets.

From New York Times