What does crotchet mean?
A crotchet has two principal lives. In music, especially British usage, it is a note worth one beat in common time — a quarter of a semibreve and twice as long as a quaver — known to Americans simply as a quarter note. Beyond the stave, crotchet names an eccentric notion or stubborn little whim, a mental twist that gives a person their odd charm: someone might have a crotchet about arranging books by colour or refusing to eat soup. The word's history explains both meanings at once, since it derives from the French crochet, a little hook — the same source as the needlecraft crochet. The musical symbol itself began as a small hook attached to the note stem, and the figurative sense plays on the image of an idea that hooks the mind and refuses to let go. The whimsical sense carries a mildly affectionate, literary flavour, often describing harmless eccentrics rather than genuine folly.
(Chiefly British music) A note having a quarter of the time value of a semibreve; a quarter note.
"Hold the final crotchet for its full value rather than clipping it short."
American English uses "quarter note" instead.
An eccentric or perverse fancy; a whim or fixed odd notion.
"Her latest crotchet was drinking only rainwater she collected herself."
Regular plural; in musical contexts it refers to multiple quarter notes, and in figurative contexts to a person's collection of whims.
"The accompanist filled the bar with even crotchets."
The word for Britain's quarter note literally means 'little hook' — which is why it's also the ancestor of 'crochet', the craft done with a hooked needle.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crotchet
Crotchet comes from the Old French crochet, a diminutive meaning "little hook", ultimately from a Germanic root also seen in "crook" and "crutch". English borrowed it in the Middle Ages, when it named various small hooks and pointed instruments. The musical sense arose because early notation marked shorter notes with a hooked flag or tail on the stem, and by extension the name settled on the quarter-note value in British terminology. The related French word gave rise to "crochet", the craft worked with a hooked needle, while "encroach" descends from a related verb formed on the same root.
How crotchet is actually used
The musical sense is standard British terminology and will sound unfamiliar to American readers, who use "quarter note". The sense meaning an eccentric whim is somewhat literary or old-fashioned but still current in formal writing. The hook/instrumental sense survives mainly in etymology and historical texts.
Easily confused with crotchet
Crochet is needlework made by looping thread with a hooked needle, while crotchet is a musical note equal to a quarter note (or, figuratively, a whim); the words share an origin but are entirely different today.
A quaver is an eighth note, half the duration of a crotchet.