bemol

Bemol is a musical term used in several languages, notably Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, that designates a flat, a pitch lowered by one semitone from its natural value. The flat is written with the symbol ♭ placed before the note; for example, A bemol (A♭) is one semitone below A.

Flats may appear in a key signature, indicating that specific notes are flatted throughout a piece, or as accidentals that apply only to a single note in a measure. The sound of a bemol can have enharmonic equivalents: C♭ sounds the same as B, D♭ as C♯, and so on.

Bemol is the counterpart to the natural sign, which cancels previous accidentals, and to the sharp (sustenido), which raises a pitch by a semitone. Double flats, or double bemols, lower a note by two semitones and are notated with two flat symbols (bb).

In music theory, keys with flats in the key signature include F major and D minor; their signatures begin with B♭ and may add E♭, A♭, and others depending on the key.

Origin of the term: bemol derives from the French bémol, used in Western notation to indicate lowering by a semitone; in English, the term flat is used instead for the same concept.