Sixteenth note

Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest.

Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together.

Comparison of duple note values ( = 2×, etc.).

In music, a 16th note (American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the duration of an eighth note (quaver), hence the name. It is the equivalent of the semifusa in mensural notation, first found in 15th-century notation (Morehen and Rastall 2001).

Sixteenth notes are notated with an oval, filled-in note head and a straight note stem with two flags. (see Figure 1). A corresponding symbol is the 16th rest (or semiquaver rest), which denotes a silence for the same duration. As with all notes with stems, 16th notes are drawn with stems to the right of the notehead, facing up, when they are below the middle line of the musical staff. When they are on or above the middle line, they are drawn with stems on the left of the note head, facing down. Flags are always on the right side of the stem, and curve to the right. On stems facing up, the flags start at the top and curve down; for downward facing stems, the flags start at the bottom of the stem and curve up. When multiple 16th notes or eighth notes (or 32nd notes, etc.) are next to each other, the flags may be connected with a beam, like the notes in Figure 2. Note the similarities in notating 16th notes and eighth notes. Similar rules apply to smaller divisions such as 32nd notes (demisemiquavers) and 64th notes (hemidemisemiquavers).

In Unicode, U+266C (♬) is a pair of beamed semiquavers.

The note derives from the semifusa in mensural notation. However, semifusa also designates the modern 64th note in Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese.

The name of this note (and rest) in different languages varies greatly:

Language	note name	rest name
Catalan	semicorxera	silenci de semicorxera
Chinese	十六分音符 (pinyin: shíliùfēn yīnfú)	十六分休止符 (pinyin: shíliùfēn xiūzhǐfú)
Danish	sekstenedelsnode	sekstenedelspause
Dutch	zestiende noot	zestiende rust
Finnish	kuudestoistaosanuotti	kuudestoistaosatauko
French	double-croche	quart de soupir
German	Sechzehntelnote	Sechzehntelpause
Greek	δέκατο έκτο	παύση δεκάτου έκτου
Italian	semicroma	pausa di semicroma
Japanese	16分音符	16分休符
Korean	16분음표(十六分音標 simnyukbun eumpyo)	16분쉼표(十六分-標 simnyukbun swimpyo)
Portuguese	semicolcheia	pausa de semicolcheia
Romanian	şaisprezecime	pauză de şaisprezecime
Russian	шестнадцатая нота	шестнадцатая пауза
Serbian	šesnaestin(k)a / песнаестин(к)а	šesnaestinska pauza / шеснаестинска пауза
Spanish	semicorchea	silencio de semicorchea
Swedish	sextondelsnot	sextondelspaus
Thai	โน๊ตตัวเขบ็ตสองชั้น	ตัวหยุดตัวเขบ็ตสองชั้น

See also

• musical notation

References

• Morehen, John, and Richard Rastall. 2001. "Semiquaver". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.