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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

quaver.

A trembling shake.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkweɪvə(ɹ)/
  1. A trembling shake.

  2. A trembling of the voice, as in speaking or singing.

  3. an eighth note, drawn as a crotchet (quarter note) with a tail.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English quaveren, frequentative form of quaven, cwavien (“to tremble”), equivalent to quave + -er. Cognate with Low German quabbeln (“to quiver”), German quabbeln, quappeln (“to quiver”). More at quave, quab, quiver.

verb/ˈkweɪvə(ɹ)/
  1. To shake in a trembling manner.

  2. To use the voice in a trembling manner, as in speaking or singing.

    intransitive
  3. To utter quaveringly.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English quaveren, frequentative form of quaven, cwavien (“to tremble”), equivalent to quave + -er. Cognate with Low German quabbeln (“to quiver”), German quabbeln, quappeln (“to quiver”). More at quave, quab, quiver.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.