semiquaver

[ sem-ee-kwey-ver ]

noun

, Music (chiefly British).

1. a sixteenth note.

semiquaver

/ ˈsɛmɪˌkweɪvə /

noun

1. music a note having the time value of one-sixteenth of a semibreve Usual US and Canadian namesixteenth note

Word History and Origins

Origin of semiquaver¹

First recorded in 1570–80; semi- + quaver

Example Sentences

The music dies down, there’s this moment of silence — and then the piano explodes with these semiquavers, with an E flat minor chord in the left hand.

From New York Times

But in the next moment Taylor shifts into a learned observation about the sunset, made in “a different tone, thoughtful, adult, a little sad, with the characteristic Elizabethan semiquaver, from a lifetime of lotus eating.”

From New York Times

To let you know that the first note is three semiquavers long instead of two it has a dot added to it, which is why this is called a ‘dotted’ rhythm.

From Literature

I vaguely wondered how I might annotate it on a musical stave – a run of semiquavers, a minim’s pause, and triplets: presto agitato!

From The Guardian

One dash, or more, through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or demiÐsemiquavers.

From Project Gutenberg