ENHARMONIC
  1. Pertaining to that scale of Greek music which proceeded by quarter tones and major thirds.
  2. Pertaining to, or concerned with, intervals smaller than a semitone; especially with reference to the interval between those notes (belonging to different keys) which in instruments of equal temperament are rendered by the same tone: e.g. between G# and Ab.

With apologies to Webster 1913, the Oxford Universal Dictionary on Historical Principles, third edition, has a more complete definition of this term.

To make it simple: Two notes/keys that sound the same, but are spelled differently

En`har*mon"ic (?), En`har*mon"ic*al (?), a. [Gr. , fitting, accordant; in + harmony: cf. F. enharmonique.]

1. Anc. Mus.

Of or pertaining to that one of the three kinds of musical scale (diatonic, chromatic, enharmonic) recognized by the ancient Greeks, which consisted of quarter tones and major thirds, and was regarded as the most accurate.

2. Mus.

  1. Pertaining to a change of notes to the eye, while, as the same keys are used, the instrument can mark no difference to the ear, as the substitution of A♭; for G♯.
  2. Pertaining to a scale of perfect intonation which recognizes all the notes and intervals that result from the exact tuning of diatonic scales and their transposition into other keys.

 

© Webster 1913.

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