seventh
n. countablen. the distance between the first note and the seventh note in a musical scale. It is also the name for the seventh note itself.
n. the interval between the first and seventh degrees of a diatonic scale, or the seventh degree itself. Often qualified as major, minor, or diminished depending on the specific number of semitones.
The song ends on a beautiful major seventh.
Jazz musicians frequently add a seventh to a standard triad to create a more complex and sophisticated chord sound.
The tension in the dominant seventh chord naturally resolves toward the tonic, providing the harmonic drive necessary for the final cadence of the piece.
From Middle English seventhe, sefte, from Old English seofoþa, from Proto-West Germanic sebundō, from Proto-Germanic sebundô. The -n-, lost in northern Proto-West Germanic, was later reinserted by analogy with seven, equivalent to seven + -th.
Commonly used in music theory to describe both an interval and a specific scale degree.