An
eighth note (
American) or a
quaver (
British) is a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) and twice that of the sixteenth note (semiquaver), which amounts to one quarter the duration of a half note (minim), one eighth the duration of whole note (semibreve), one sixteenth the duration of a
double whole note (breve), and one thirty-second the duration of a
longa, hence the name. It is the equivalent of the fusa in
mensural notation