Word.ws English Dictionary

crotchet

/ˈkɹɒtʃ.ɪt/US/ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/

crotchet noun: a musical note one beat long in 4/4 time. Also the archaic form of crochet.

Noun

crotchet (plural crotchets)

  1. A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.
    • The crotchets and quavers are dancing up and down the stave like little black boys on a fence.1920 August 27, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Wind Blows”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 140–141
    Synonyms:
    quarter note
  2. (obsolete) A sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook
  3. (historical) A hook-shaped instrument, especially as used in obstetric surgery.
    • Either Doctor Denman or an old Woman would have waited—but since the horrid death-doing Crotchet has been found out, & its use permitted—Oh! many & many a Life has been flung away.1797 September 1, Hester Lynch Piozzi, Thraliana
  4. (archaic) A whim or a fancy.
    • Thou who walkest in a vain shew, looking out with ornamental dilettante sniff and serene supremacy at all Life and all Death; and amblest jauntily; perking up thy poor talk into crotchets, thy poor conduct into fatuous somnambulisms; […] dost thou call that "liberty!"1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker), page 124
    • He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man.1847, Thomas De Quincey, “Secret Societies”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine
  5. A forked support; a crotch.
    • Their little Shed, ſcarce large enough for Two, / Seems, from the Ground increas'd, in Height and Bulk to grow. / A ſtately Temple ſhoots within the Skies, / The Crotchets of their Cot in Columns riſe: [...]1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 287
  6. (historical) An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.
  7. The arrangement of a body of troops, either forward or rearward, so as to form a line nearly perpendicular to the general line of battle.
  8. A square bracket.

Verb

crotchet (third-person singular simple present crotchets, present participle crotcheting, simple past and past participle crotcheted)

  1. (obsolete) to play music in measured time
    • The nimblest crotcheting musiciana. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “(please specify the title)”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC

Also used as

crotchet is also the archaic form of crochet.

crotchet meaning in Malay and Vietnamese

crotchet in Malay

musical note
krocet

crotchet in Vietnamese

musical note
nốt đen

Synonyms of crotchet

Forms of crotchet

Noun
pluralcrotchets
Verb
third-person singular presentcrotchets
present participlecrotcheting
past participlecrotcheted
pastcrotcheted

Origin of crotchet

From Middle English crochet, from Old French crochet (“small hook”), from croc + -et (diminutive suffix), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”). The musical note was named so because of a small hook on its stem in black notation (in modern notation this hook is on the quaver/eighth note). Doublet of crochet, crocket, and croquet.

Words formed from crotchet

Phrases with crotchet

Questions about crotchet

What does crotchet mean?
Crotchet means a musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.
What is crotchet in Malay?
Crotchet in Malay is krocet. See Crotchet meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is crotchet?
Crotchet can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce crotchet?
Crotchet is pronounced /ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/ (US).
What is the plural of crotchet?
The plural of crotchet is crotchets.

Words near crotchet in the dictionary

  1. crotchdroppings
  2. crotched
  3. crotched down
  4. crotches
  5. crotches down
  6. crotchet
  7. crotchet rest
  8. crotchet rests
  9. crotcheted
  10. crotcheteer
  11. crotcheteers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crotchet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-crotchet.wav.

Cite this entry: “crotchet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crotchet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.