tritone

[trahy-tohn]

tri·tone

[trahy-tohn]
noun Music.
an interval consisting of three whole tones; an augmented fourth.

Origin:
1600–10; < Medieval Latin tritonus < Greek trítonos having three tones. See tri-, tone
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Tritone is always a great word to know.
So is quarter note. Does it mean:
note equivalent to one fourth of a whole note
quarter note that is lengthened by half
Collins
World English Dictionary
tritone (ˈtraɪˌtəʊn)
 
n
a musical interval consisting of three whole tones; augmented fourth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

tritone

in music, the interval encompassed by three consecutive whole steps, as for instance the distance from F to B (the whole steps F-G, G-A, and A-B). In semitone notation, the tritone is composed of six semitones; thus it divides the octave symmetrically in equal halves. In musical notation the tritone is written either as an augmented fourth (e.g., F-B or C-F) or as a diminished fifth (e.g., B-F or C-G).

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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