subdominant
The fourth degree of a scale and the chord built on it, creating a sense of departure from the tonic.
In Depth
The subdominant (IV chord) is one of the three primary chords in tonal harmony, alongside the tonic (I) and dominant (V). It creates a feeling of moving away from home without the urgency of the dominant. The plagal cadence (IV-I) uses the subdominant for its gentle, hymnlike resolution. In blues, the move from I to IV is one of the most important harmonic events. The subdominant is called sub-dominant not because it is below the dominant but because it is a fifth below the tonic.
The Amen cadence (IV-I) is so called because it is the harmonic progression sung to the word Amen at the end of virtually every Christian hymn.