Dotted note note is used less frequently than the dotted note. Typically, as in the example to the right, it is followed by a note whose duration is one-quarter the length of the basic note value, completing the next higher note value. Before the mid 18th century, double dots were not used. Until then, in some circumstances, single dots could mean double dots. In a French overture (and sometimes other Baroque music), notes written as dotted notes are often interpreted to mean double-dotted notes, and the following note is commensurately shortened; see Historically informed performance. A triple-dotted note is a note with
Whole note of mensural notation, and this is the origin of the British name. The American name is a calque of the German . The Catalan, French and Spanish names for the note (meaning "round") derive from the fact that the was distinguished by its round stemless shape, which is true as well of the modern form (in contrast to the double whole note or shorter values with stems). The Greek name means "whole". Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese names mean "whole note". Whole note In music, a whole note (American) or semibreve (British) is a note represented by a hollow oval