An ornate spiral-and-loop figure at the left of a staff, fixing the second line as the note G.
Also known as: G clef, Squiggly music symbol, Curly music sign
The treble clef is a stylised letter G, and the point its spiral encircles is the line that means G. Everything else on the staff is read from that one fixed reference.
Fixes the second line up from the bottom of the staff as the G above middle C, from which every other pitch on the staff is read.
Contexts: Music
Descends from a written letter G placed on the staff to mark that line, which is why its spiral curls around exactly that line and nowhere else.
Contexts: Music
Is the clef used for most instruments and voices in the upper range, and the one a reader is most likely to have seen without knowing its name.
Contexts: Music
A tall figure drawn in one stroke: a spiral curling anticlockwise near the middle, a stem rising above it into a curved hook, and a tail descending below the staff and crossing back over itself.