Major second

Diminished, minor and augmented seconds are notated on adjacent staff positions as well, but consist of a different number of semitones (zero, one, and three).

It is considered a melodic step, as opposed to larger intervals called skips.

Some equal temperaments, such as 15-ET and 22-ET, also distinguish between a greater and a lesser tone.

The major second was historically considered one of the most dissonant intervals of the diatonic scale, although much 20th-century music saw it reimagined as a consonance.

The 10:9 minor tone arises in the C major scale between D & E and G & A, and is "a sharper dissonance" than 9:8.

[12] This 9:8 interval was named epogdoon (meaning 'one eighth in addition') by the Pythagoreans.

Conversely, in twelve-tone equal temperament, Pythagorean tuning, and meantone temperament (including 19-ET and 31-ET) all major seconds have the same size, so there cannot be a distinction between a greater and a lesser tone.

Namely, they are used to indicate the two distinct kinds of whole tone, more commonly and more appropriately called major second (M2) and diminished third (d3).

Unlike almost all uses of the terms major and minor, these intervals span the same number of semitones.

In Pythagorean music theory, the epogdoon (Ancient Greek: ἐπόγδοον) is the interval with the ratio 9 to 8.