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{{Short description|Musical note duration}}
{{refimprove|date=December 2009}}
[[File:Whole note and rest.svg|thumb|right|250px|'''Figure 1.''' A whole note and a whole rest.]]
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A '''whole note''' (American) or '''semibreve''' (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes.
== Description ==
The '''whole note''' or '''semibreve''' has a [[note head]] in the shape of a hollow oval—like a [[half note]] (or ''minim'')—but with no [[note stem]] (see Figure 1). Since it is equal to four quarter notes, it occupies the entire length of a [[bar_(music)|measure]] in {{music|time|4|4}} [[time signature|time]].

Other notes are multiples or fractions of the whole note. For example, a [[double whole note]] (or ''breve'') lasts twice the duration of the whole note, a half note lasts one half the duration, and a [[quarter note]] (or ''crotchet'') lasts one quarter the duration.

A related symbol is the '''whole [[rest (music)|rest]]''' (or '''semibreve rest'''), which signifies a rest for the duration of a whole note. Whole rests are drawn as filled-in rectangles generally hanging under the second line from the top of a [[musical staff]], though they may occasionally be put under a different line (or [[ledger line]]) in more complicated [[polyphonic]] passages, or when two instruments or vocalists are written on one staff.

The whole note may also be used to denote a whole measure in music of free rhythm, such as [[Anglican chant]], irrespective of the time of the measure.

== History ==
The whole note symbol is first found in music notation from the late thirteenth century {{harv|Morehen and Rastall|2001}}. It derives from the round, stemless {{lang|la|semibrevis}} of [[mensural notation]], hence the origin of the British name.

== Nomenclature ==

The British term is taken from Italian ''semibreve'', itself built upon Latin ''semi-'' "half" and ''brevis'' "short." The American ''whole note'' is a [[calque]] of the German {{lang|de|ganze Note}}. Some languages derive the name of the note from its round shape, such as Catalan ''rodona'', French ''ronde'', and Spanish ''redonda''. The Greek name means "whole". The Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese names mean "whole note".

== See also ==
* [[List of musical symbols]]

== References ==
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Morehen and Rastall|2001}} |reference=Morehen, John, and Richard Rastall. 2001. "Semibreve". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}

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