quaver

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English quaveren,^[2][3][4][5] apparently formed from English quave + -er, the suffix of repeated action.^[6][7][8][3] Quave is from Middle English quaven (“to tremble, shake”), early cwavien, from about 1225,^[2][6][9] which may continue an unattested Old English *cwafian, a formation parallel to cwacian, the Old English verb meaning to quake.^[6][2][8] Its further origin is uncertain: the OED and the Middle English Dictionary suggest imitation,^[6][2] and Barnhart calls it unknown.^[9] Etymonline and Ayto compare Low German quabbeln (“to tremble”),^[3][10] and Partridge adds dialectal Swedish kvabba and Middle Low German quabbe (“a bog”), all probably echoic.^[11] Dictionary.com instead explains the verb as a blend of quake and waver.^[12] Partridge takes quiver as a thinned form of it.^[11] The noun comes from the verb.^[6][7][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To tremble or waver: before 1439, in Lydgate's Fall of Princes.^[6][2] Barnhart dates it probably before 1425, Etymonline to the early 15th century.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is physical trembling, and the Middle English participle could also mean uncertain or unstable.^[2][6] In the 1530s the word entered music: Elyot has the noun for a trill in singing in 1533 and the verb for singing with a trill in 1538.^[6][9] The noun for the short note, from 1556, comes from the original singing of such notes with a trill.^[6][10] The trembling voice appears late: the verb in 1727 and the noun in Richardson's Clarissa in 1748.^[6][9][3] Johnson (1755) already puts it first, defining the verb as to shake the voice, to speak or sing tremulously.^[13] Hotten's slang dictionary of 1864 records quaver for a musician.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1439 – to tremble or quiver, in Lydgate.^[6][2]
• 1533 – noun: a trill in singing, in Elyot's Pasquil the Playne.^[6][5] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1610s and Barnhart to 1611.^[3][9]
• 1538 – to sing or play with a trill, in Elyot's Dictionary.^[6][9]
• 1556 – noun: the note worth half a crotchet.^[6] Etymonline gives the 1560s, Barnhart 1570.^[3][9]
• 1570 – with an object, to sing or utter with a trembling tone, in Levens.^[6]
• 1727 – of the voice, to shake, in Pope.^[6]
• 1736 – noun: a quivering movement, in Brooke.^[6]
• 1748 – noun: a tremble in the voice, in Richardson's Clarissa.^[6][9][3]
• 1773 – to say words in a trembling tone.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tremble, vibrate or shake.^[5][15][6]
2. Of the voice or a sound, to shake or waver.^[15][6][7]
3. To say or sing something in a trembling voice.^[5][15][6]
4. To trill with the voice or on an instrument.^[5][6][15]

Noun

1. (music, chiefly British) A note lasting half a crotchet and an eighth of a semibreve; an eighth note.^{[15][5][6][7]}
2. A trembling in the voice or in another sound.^[5][15][6]
3. A quivering movement; a tremor.^[6]
4. (music) A trill or shake, especially in singing.^[6][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged marks this sense obsolete.^[5]

Word family

• quaveringly
• quavery
• quaverer
• demiquaver
• semiquaver
• demisemiquaver
• hemidemisemiquaver
• unquavering
• quaverous

Related words

• quake
• quiver
• quave
• waver

Usage notes

The usual American and Canadian name for the note is eighth note.^[15] In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire dialect the verb could mean to equivocate, and in Scotland the noun a tremulous cry.^[16] Wright treats separately a dialect word of Lakeland, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, meaning to brandish, to clench the fists or to make a feint of striking, with a noun for a flourish.^[16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)