semitone
semitone
Noun
pl: semitones
This term describes the most granular unit of distance in the chromatic scale. It carries a technical, precise connotation used primarily by musicians, composers, and theorists to quantify the exact gap between two pitches without ambiguity.
In practical application, a semitone is the distance between any two adjacent keys on a piano, whether they are white or black. It serves as the building block for larger intervals, such as the whole tone, which consists of two semitones.