Crotchets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A quarter note in music, typically represented as a filled oval note, which indicates a specific duration of sound
2. Additionally, a whimsical or peculiar idea or notion that someone may have
3. Lastly, a term referring to a playful, odd behavior or eccentricity in individuals

Etymology: Before "crotchet" named a whimsical notion, it was a hook. The Old French "crochet" meant "small hook," and it was built from "croc," a hook, with the diminutive suffix "-et" added. That hook came from Old Norse "krókr," which is why the word reached English in Middle English as "crochet," carrying the sense of a bent or hooked piece of metal or wood. The musical sense is the one that leaves the hook visible. The note was named for the small hook on its stem in black notation, and the same hook is now found on the quaver, or eighth note. The word thus kept a physical image even as it moved into music. The whimsical sense seems to have grown from the idea of a hooked or crooked thought, a notion that snags the mind at an odd angle, though the exact path from hook to fancy is less clearly documented. "Crochet" and "croquet" are doublets of this word, sharing the same ancestry through separate routes into English.

Synonyms: notes, musical notes, quavers