Font : definition of Font and synonyms of Font (English) "Fount" redirects here. For the original meaning, see fountain . This article is about the traditional meaning of "font". For the electronic data file, see Computer font . For other uses, see Font (disambiguation) . In typography , a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface . For example, the complete set of all the characters for "9- point Bulmer " is called a font, and the "10-point Bulmer" would be another separate font, but part of the same font family , whereas "9-point Bulmer boldface" would be another font in a different font family of the same typeface. One individual font character might be referred to as a "sort," "piece of font," or "piece of type". Font nowadays is frequently used synonymously with the term typeface , although they had clearly understood different meanings before the advent of digital typography and desktop publishing . Beginning in the 1980s, with the introduction of computer fonts , a broader definition for the term "font" evolved.

Different sizes of a single style—separate fonts in metal type—are now generated from a single computer font, because vector shapes can be scaled freely. "Bulmer", the typeface, may include the fonts "Bulmer roman", "Bulmer italic", "Bulmer bold" and "Bulmer extended", but there is no separate font for "9-point Bulmer italic" as opposed to "10-point Bulmer italic". 6 Sources Etymology The term font, a doublet of the word fondue , derives from Middle French fonte, meaning "(something that has been) melt(ed)", referring to type produced by casting molten metal at a type foundry . English-speaking printers have used the term fount for centuries to refer to the multi-part metal type used to assemble and print in a particular size and typeface. [1] Metal type In a traditional manual printing ( letterpress ) house the word font would refer to a complete set of metal type that would be used to typeset an entire page. Unlike a digital typeface it would not include a single definition of each character, but commonly used characters (such as vowels and periods) would have more physical type-pieces included.

A font when bought new would often be sold as (for example in a Roman alphabet) 12pt 14A 34a, meaning that it would be a size 12-point font containing 14 uppercase 'A's, and 34 lowercase 'A's. The rest of the characters would be provided in quantities appropriate for the distribution of letters in that language. Some metal type characters required in typesetting, such as dashes , spaces and line-height spacers, were not part of a specific font, but were generic pieces which could be used with any font. [2] Line spacing is still often called " leading ", because the strips used for line spacing were made of lead (rather than the harder alloy used for other pieces). The reason for this spacing strip being made from "lead" was because lead was a softer metal than the traditional forged metal type pieces (which was part lead, antimony and tin) and would compress more easily when "locked-up" in the printing "chase" (i.e. a carrier for holding all the type together).

In the 1880s–90s, "hot lead" typesetting was invented, in which type was cast as it was set, either piece by piece (as in the Monotype technology) or in entire lines of type at one time (as in the Linotype technology). Font characteristics In addition to the character height, when using the mechanical sense of the term, there are several characteristics which may distinguish fonts, though they would also depend on the script (s) that the typeface supports. In European alphabetic scripts , i.e. Latin , Cyrillic and Greek , the main such properties are the stroke width, called weight , the style or angle and the character width . The regular or standard font is sometimes labeled roman, both to distinguish it from bold or thin and from italic or oblique. The keyword for the default, regular case is often omitted for variants and never repeated, otherwise it would be Bulmer regular italic, Bulmer bold regular and even Bulmer regular regular. Roman can also refer to the language coverage of a font, acting as a shorthand for "Western European." Different fonts of the same typeface may be used in the same work for various degrees of readability and emphasis .

Weight The weight of a particular font is the thickness of the character outlines relative to their height. Helvetica Neue weights A typeface may come in fonts of many weights, from ultra-light to extra-bold or black; four to six weights are not unusual, and a few typefaces have as many as a dozen. Many typefaces for office, Web and non-professional use come with just a normal and a bold weight. If no bold weight is provided, many renderers (browsers, word processors, graphic and DTP programs) support faking a bolder font by rendering the outline a second time at an offset, or just smearing it slightly at a diagonal angle. The base weight differs among typefaces; that means one normal font may appear bolder than some other normal font. For example, fonts intended to be used in posters are often quite bold by default while fonts for long runs of text are rather light. Therefore weight designations in font names may differ in regard to the actual absolute stroke weight or density of glyphs in the font.

Attempts to systematize a range of weights led to a numerical classification first used by Adrian Frutiger with the Univers typeface: 35 Extra Light, 45 Light, 55 Medium or Regular, 65 Bold, 75 Extra Bold, 85 Extra Bold, 95 Ultra Bold or Black. Deviants of these were the "6 series" (italics), e.g. 46 Light Italics etc., the "7 series" (condensed versions), e.g. 57 Medium Condensed etc., and the "8 series" (condensed italics), e.g. 68 Bold Condensed Italics. From this brief numerical system it is easier to determine exactly what a font's characteristics are, for instance "Helvetica 67" (HE67) translates to "Helvetica Bold Condensed". The TrueType font format introduced a scale from 100 through 900, where 400 is regular (roman or plain), which is also used in CSS and OpenType . The first algorithmic description of fonts was perhaps made by Donald Knuth in his Metafont and TeX system of programs.

There are many names used to describe the weight of a font in its name, differing among type foundries and designers, but their relative order is usually fixed, something like this: Hairline Extra-black Ultra-black / ultra The terms normal, regular and plain, sometimes also book, are being used for the standard weight font of a typeface. Where both appear and differ, book is often lighter than regular, but in some typefaces it is bolder. Slope In contemporary European typefaces, especially roman ones, the font style is usually connected to the angle. When the normal, roman or upright font is slanted—usually to the right in left-to-right scripts—the lowercase character shapes change slightly as well, approaching a more handwritten , cursive style. In this italic type , character edges may even connect and ligatures are more common. In many typefaces uppercase letters are only slanted in italic fonts, but in some they change their appearance, too, e.g. by gaining swashes . Although rarely encountered, a typographic face may be accompanied by a matching calligraphic face (cursive, script), which might be considered a further font style of one typeface.

Cyrillic italics In many sans-serif and some serif typefaces, especially in those with strokes of even thickness the characters of the italic fonts are only slanted, which is often done algorithmically, without otherwise changing their appearance. Such oblique fonts are not true italics, because they lack the change in letter shapes which is part of the definition of an italic. On the other hand, there are typefaces with upright characters that take a more cursive form without a change in angle. For example the Cyrillic minuscule ‘т’ may look like a smaller form of its majuscule ‘Т’ or more like a roman small ‘m’ as in its standard italic appearance; in this case the distinction between styles is also a matter of local preference. In Frutiger’s nomenclature the second digit for upright fonts is a 5, for italic fonts a 6 and for condensed italic fonts a 8. The two Japanese syllabaries , katakana and hiragana , are sometimes seen as two styles or typographic variants of each other, but usually are considered separate character sets as a few of the characters have separate kanji origins.

The gothic style of the roman script with broken letter forms, on the other hand, is usually considered a mere typographic variant. Cursive-only scripts such as Arabic also have different styles, in this case for example Naskh and Kufic , although these often depend on application, area or era. There are other aspects that can differ among font styles, but more often these are considered immanent features of the typeface. These include the look of digits ( text figures ) and the minuscules, which may be smaller versions of the capital letters ( small caps ) although the script has developed characteristic shapes for them. Some typefaces do not include separate glyphs for the cases at all, thereby abolishing the bicamerality . While most of these use uppercase characters only, some labeled unicase exist which choose either the majuscule or the minuscule glyph at a common height for both characters. Width Some typefaces include fonts that vary the width of the characters (stretch). Narrower fonts are usually labeled compressed, condensed or narrow. In Frutiger’s system, the second digit of condensed fonts is a 7. Wider fonts may be called wide, extended or expanded.

Both can be further classified by prepending extra, ultra or the like. These separate fonts have to be distinguished from techniques that alter the letter-spacing to achieve narrower or smaller words, especially for justified text alignment . Most typefaces either have proportional or monospaced (i.e. typewriter-style) letter widths, if the script provides the possibility. There are, however, superfamilies covering both styles. East-Asian sinograms Some fonts provide both proportional and fixed-width (tabular) digits, where the former usually coincide with lowercase text figures and the latter with uppercase lining figures . Optimal size Some professional digital typefaces include fonts that are optimised for certain sizes, e.g. by using ink traps . There are several naming schemes for such variant designs. One such scheme, invented and popularized by Adobe Systems , refers to the variant fonts by the applications those are typically used for, with the exact point sizes intended varying slightly by typeface: Poster very small, typically about 6–8 point Metrics Font metrics refers to metadata consisting of numeric values relating to size and space in the font overall, or in its individual glyphs. Font-wide metrics include cap height , x-height, ascender height, descender depth, and the font bounding box .

Glyph-level metrics include the glyph bounding box, the advance width (the proper distance between the glyph's initial pen position and the next glyph's initial pen position), and sidebearings (space that pads the glyph outline on either side). Serifs Serifs within the Thesis typeface family Italic capital swashes Although most typefaces are characterised by their use of serifs , there are superfamilies that incorporate serif (antiqua) and sans-serif (grotesque) or even intermediate slab serif (Egyptian) or semi-serif fonts with the same base outlines. A more common font variant, especially of serif typefaces, is that of alternate capitals. They can have swashes to go with italic minuscules or they can be of a flourish design for use as initials (drop caps). See also Font | Define Font at Dictionary.com (printing) a complete set of type of one style and size Also called fount Word Origin C16: from Old French fonte a founding, casting, from Vulgar Latin funditus (unattested) a casting, from Latin fundere to melt; see found³ Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for font Expand n. "basin," Old English font, from Latin fons (genitive fontis) "fountain" (see fountain ), especially in Medieval Latin fons baptismalis "baptismal font." "typeface, set of letters of a particular type," 1680s, earlier "a casting" (1570s), from Middle French fonte "a casting," noun use of fem. past participle of fondre "to melt" (see found (v.2)). So called because all the letters in a given set were cast at the same time.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper sansserif : definition of sansserif and synonyms of sansserif (English) Serif font (serifs in red) In typography , a sans-serif or sans serif typeface is one that does not have the small features called " serifs " at the end of strokes. The term comes from the Latin word "sine", via the French word sans, meaning "without". In print, sans-serif fonts are more typically used for headlines than for body text. [1] The conventional wisdom holds that serifs help guide the eye along the lines in large blocks of text. Sans-serifs, however, have acquired considerable acceptance for body text in Europe . Sans-serif fonts have become the de facto standard for body text on-screen, especially online. This is partly because interlaced displays may show twittering on the fine details of the horizontal serifs. Additionally, the low resolution of digital displays in general can make fine details like serifs disappear or appear too large. Before the term “sans-serif” became standard in English typography, a number of other terms had been used.

One of these outmoded terms for sans serif was gothic , which is still used in East Asian typography and sometimes seen in font names like Century Gothic . Sans-serif fonts are sometimes, especially in older documents, used as a device for emphasis , due to their typically blacker type color . Contents History Ancient usages Sans-serif letter forms can be found in Latin, Etruscan , and Greek inscriptions, for as early as 5th century BC. [2] The sans serif forms had been used on stoichedon Greek inscriptions. Non-Latin types The first known usage of Etruscan sans-serif foundry types was from Thomas Dempster 's De Etruria regali libri VII (1723). Later at about 1745, Caslon foundry made its the first sans-serif types for Etruscan languages, which was used by University Press, Oxford, for pamphlets written by Etruscan scholar John Swinton .

Revival of Latin characters According to James Mosley's Typographica journal titled The Nymph and the Grot: the revival of the sanserif letter, the sans serif letters had appeared as early as 1748, as an inscription of Nymph in the Grotto in Stourhead . [2] However, it was classified as an experiment rather than a sign of wide-scale adoption. [3] In late 18th century, Neoclassicism movement led to architects to increasingly incorporating ancient Greek and Roman designs in contemporary structures. Among the architects, John Soane was noted for using sans serif letters on his drawings and architectural designs, which were eventually adopted by other designers, such as Thomas Banks , John Flaxman . Sans-serif letters began to appear in printed media as early as 1805, in European Magazine. However, early 19th-century commercial sign writers and engravers had modified the sans-serif styles of neoclassical designers to include uneven stroke weights found in serif Roman fonts, producing sans-serif letters.

[2] In 1816, the Ordnance Survey began to use 'Egyptian' type, which was printed using copper plate engraving of monoline sans-serif capital letters, to name ancient Roman sites. [2] Incorporation by typefounders The January 13, 1898 edition of L'Aurore (the " J'accuse " issue): An early example of sans-serif in the media. A grotesque typeface is used in the masthead and subtitle of the letter, likely indicating the publication's progressive , liberal orientation. In 1786, a rounded sans-serif font was developed by Valentin Haüy , first appeared in the book titled "Essai sur l'éducation des aveugles" (An Essay on the Education of the Blind). [4] The purpose of this font was to be invisible and address accessibility. It was designed to emboss paper and allow the blind to read with their fingers. [5] The design was eventually known as Haüy type.

[6] In 1816, William Caslon IV produced the first sans-serif printing type in England for Latin characters under the title 'Two Lines English Egyptian', where 'Two Lines English' referred to the font's body size, which equals to about 28 points. Originally cut in 1812. [7] The term Sans-serif was first employed in 1830 by Figgins foundry. In 1832, Thorowgood of Fann Street Foundry introduced Grotesque, which include the first commercial Latin printing type to include lowercase sans-serif letters. Other names for sans-serif Egyptian: The term was first used by Joseph Farington after seeing the sans serif inscription on John Flaxman's memorial to Isaac Hawkins Brown in 1805, [2] though today the term is commonly used to refer to slab serif, not sans serif. Antique: In about 1817, the Figgins foundry in London made a type with square or slab-serifs which it called 'Antique', and that name was adopted by most of the British and US typefounders.

An exception was the typefounder Thorne, who confused things by marketing his Antique under the name 'Egyptian'. In France it became Egyptienne, and to worsen the confusion, the French called sans-serif type 'Antique'. [3] Some fonts, such as Antique Olive, still carry the name. Grotesque: It was originally coined by William Thorowgood of Fann Street Foundry, the first person to produce a sans-serif type with lower case, in 1832. The name came from the Italian word 'grottesco', meaning 'belonging to the cave'. In Germany, the name became Grotesk. German typefounders adopted the term from the nomenclature of Fann Street Foundry, which took on the meaning of cave (or grotto) art. [8] Nevertheless, some explained the term was derived from the surprising response from the typographers. [9] Doric: It was the term first used by H. W. Caslon Foundry in Chiswell Street in 1870 to describe various sans-serif font at a time the generic name 'sans-serif' was commonly accepted. Eventually the foundry used Sans-serif in 1906.

At that time, Doric referred to a certain kind of stressed sans-serif types. Gothic: Not to be confused with blackletter typeface, the term was used mainly by American type founders. [10] The term probably derived from the architectural definition, which is neither Greek or Roman; [11] and from the extended adjective term of 'Germany', which was the place where sans-serif typefaces became popular in 19th to 20th century. [12] Early adopters for the term includes Miller & Richard (1963), J. & R. M. Wood (1865), Lothian, Conner, Bruce McKellar. Although the usage is now rare in the English-speaking world, the term is commonly used in Japan and South Korea. Heiti (Chinese: 黑體): Literally meaning 'black type', the term probably derived from the mistranslation of Gothic as blackletter typeface, even though actual blackletter fonts have serifs. Lineale, or Linear: The term was defined by typographic historian Maximilien Vox in the VOX-ATypI classification to describe sans-serif types.

Later, in British Standards Classification of Typefaces ( BS 2961 :1967), lineale replaced sans-serif as classification name. Simplices: In Jean Alessandrini's désignations préliminaries (preliminary designations), simplices (plain typefaces) is used to describe sans-serif on the basis that the name 'lineal' refers to lines, whereas, in reality, all typefaces are made of lines, including those that are not lineals. [13] Classification For the purposes of type classification sans-serif designs broadly divide into four major groups:[citation needed] The Franklin Gothic typeface (Grotesque) Humanist ( Calibri , Johnston , Lucida Grande , Segoe UI , Gill Sans , Myriad , Frutiger , Trebuchet MS , Tahoma , Verdana and Optima , a.k.a. Zapf Humanist). These are the most calligraphic of the sans-serif typefaces, with some variation in line width and more legibility than other sans-serif fonts. The Futura typeface (Geometric) Geometric ( Futura , ITC Avant Garde , Century Gothic , Gotham , or Spartan).

As their name suggests, Geometric sans-serif typefaces are based on geometric shapes. Note the optically circular letter "O" and the simple construction of the lowercase letter "a". Geometric sans-serif fonts have a very modern look and feel. Of these four categories, geometric fonts tend to be the least useful for body text. Note that in some sans-serif fonts, such as Arial, the capital-i and lowercase-L appear identical. Verdana, however, keeps them distinct because Verdana's capital-i, as an exception, has serifs. Other fonts may have two horizontal bars on the capital-i, a curved tail on the lowercase-L, or both. British Standards classification In British Standards Classification of Typefaces (BS 2961:1967), the following are defined: Grotesque: Lineale typefaces with 19th century origins. There is some contrast in thickness of strokes. They have squareness of curve, and curling close-set jaws. The R usually has a curled leg and the G is spurred. The ends of the curved strokes are usually horizontal. Examples include Stephenson Blake Grotesque No. 6, Condensed Sans No. 7, Monotype Headline Bold.

Neo-grotesque: Lineale typefaces derived from the grotesque. They have less stroke contrast and are more regular in design. The jaws are more open than in the true grotesque and the g is often open-tailed. The ends of the curved strokes are usually oblique. Examples include Edel/Wotan, Univers , Helvetica . Geometric: Lineale typefaces constructed on simple geometric shapes, circle or rectangle. Usually monoline, and often with single-storey a. Examples include Futura , Erbar, Eurostile . Humanist: Lineale typefaces based on the proportions of inscriptional Roman capitals and Humanist or Garalde lower-case, rather than on early grotesques. They have some stroke contrast, with two-storey a and g. Examples include Optima , Gill Sans , Pascal. See also Meaning of font Font • (n.) A fountain; a spring; a source. • (n.) A basin or stone vessel in which water is contained for baptizing. • (n.) A complete assortment of printing type of one size, including a due proportion of all the letters in the alphabet, large and small, points, accents, and whatever else is necessary for printing with that variety of t...

font (from the article `computerized typesetting`) The computer must be programmed carefully for optimal word spacing and correct hyphenation. Older typesetters have a photounit with an optical type ... Italian printer who designed several modern typefaces, one of which bears his name and is in common use today.The font, which constitutes a ... [ edit ] Origins & etymology Roman brushed capitals. Serifs are thought to have originated in the Roman alphabet with inscriptional lettering —words carved into stone in Roman antiquity . The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first brushed onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Look up serif in Wiktionary , the free dictionary. The origin of the word "serif" is obscure, but apparently almost as recent as the type style. The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1841 for "sans serif", given as sanserif, and 1830 for "serif".

The OED speculates that "serif" was a back-formation from "sanserif". Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces "serif" to the Dutch schreef, meaning wrote, and ultimately through Dutch schrijven, German schreiben and Latin scribere, all meaning "to write". Schreef now also means "serif" in Dutch. The OED's earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875 , giving stone-letter as a synonym . It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art grotesque usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic", commonly used for Japanese Gothic typefaces . Serif (top) and sans-serif (bottom) typefaces exist for Chinese characters as well. In the Chinese and Japanese languages , there are two common typefaces based on the regular script for Chinese characters akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West.

The most popular for body text is a family of fonts called the Song typeface (宋体, Songti), also known as Minchō (明朝) in Japan, and Ming typeface (明體, Mingti) in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The names of these fonts come from the Song and Ming dynasties, when block printing flourished in China. Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. To prevent wear and tear, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes; triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes; and overall geometrical regularity. The other common group of fonts is called the black typeface (黑体/體, Heiti) in Chinese and Gothic typeface (ゴシック体, Goshikku-tai ? ) in Japanese. This group is characterized by straight lines of even thickness for each stroke, akin to sans serif styles.

This group of fonts, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards. In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on kanji and kana characters are called uroko—"fish scales." In Chinese, the serifs are called either youjiaoti (有脚体, lit. "forms with legs") or youchenxianti (有衬线体, lit. "forms with ornamental lines"). [ edit ] Usage Serifed text in a dictionary of French slang . In traditional printing serifed fonts are used for body text because they are widely believed to be easier to read than sans-serif fonts for this purpose. Sans-serif fonts are used for shorter pieces of text and subject matter requiring a more casual feel than the formal look of serifed types. Sans serif types have recently begun to supplant seriffed types for headings with a 'cleaner' look. Serifed fonts are the overwhelming typeface choice for lengthy text printed in books, newspapers and magazines. For such purposes sans serif fonts are more acceptable in Europe than in North America, but still less common than seriffed typefaces.

While in print serifed fonts are considered more readable, sans-serif is considered more legible on computer screens.[ citation needed ] For this reason the majority of web pages employ sans-serif type. Hinting information , anti-aliased and sub-pixel rendering technologies have partially mitigated the legibility problem of serif fonts, but the basic constraint of coarse screen resolution—typically 100 pixels per inch or less—continues to limit their readability on screen. As serifs originated in inscription, they are generally not utilized in handwriting. A common exception is the printed capital I , where the addition of serifs distinguish the character from lowercase L . Printed capital Js , and the numerals 1 and 7 are also often handwritten with serifs. [ edit ] Classification Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, slab serif, or modern. The Garamond typeface, an example of an old-style serif [ edit ] Old Style Old style typefaces date back to 1465, and are characterized by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom), subtle differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast), and excellent readability.

Old style typefaces are reminiscent of the humanist calligraphy from which their forms were derived. It has been said that the angled stressing of old style faces generates diagonal lock, which, when combined with their bracket serifs creates detailed, positive word-pictures (see bouma ) for ease of reading. However, this theory is mostly contradicted by the parallel letterwise recognition model, which is widely accepted by cognitive psychologists who study reading. Old style faces are sub-divided into Venetian and Aldine or Garalde. Examples of old style typefaces include Adobe Jenson (Venetian), Janson , Garamond , Bembo , Goudy Old Style , and Palatino (all Aldine or Garalde). The Times New Roman typeface, an example of a transitional serif [ edit ] Transitional Transitional (or "baroque") serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century. They are among the most common, including such widespread typefaces as Times Roman (1932) and Baskerville (1757).

They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional." Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts. Main article: Slab serif Slab serif (a.k.a. "Egyptian") typefaces usually have little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves and usually have no bracket. Slab serif fonts have a bold, rectangular appearance and sometimes have fixed widths , meaning that all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space (as in a typewriter ). They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with serifs because the underlying character shapes are often similar to sans serif typefaces, with less variation between thin and thick shapes on the character. (A subcategory of slab serif is the Clarendon typefaces, which do have small but significant brackets, and structures more similar to seriffed typefaces.) Slab serif typefaces date to around 1800. Examples of slab serif typefaces include Clarendon , Rockwell and Courier .

The Bodoni typeface, an example of a modern serif [ edit ] Modern Modern serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. Modern typefaces have a vertical stress, long and fine serifs, with minimal brackets. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines are very heavy. Most modern fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Common examples include Bodoni , Century Schoolbook and Computer Modern (the font family that comes with the TeX and LaTeX open-source computer typography systems). Serif S Serif In typography , serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface (or seriffed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”.

Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic," and serif types as "Roman." Origins and etymology Serifs are thought to have originated in the Roman alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. The origin of the word serif is obscure, but apparently almost as recent as the type style.

In The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins, it defined surripses, usually pronounced "surriphs", as "projections" which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all." The standard also proposed that surripses may be derived from the Greek words συν (together) and ριψις (projection). In 1827, a Greek scholar, Julian Hibbert, printed his own experimental uncial Greek types. He explained that unlike the types of Bodoni's Callimachus, which were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what I believe type-founders call syrifs or cerefs." The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1841 for "sans serif", given as sanserif, and 1830 for "serif". The OED speculates that serif was a back-formation from sanserif.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces serif to the Dutch noun schreef, meaning "line, stroke of the pen", related to the verb schrappen, "to delete, strike through". Schreef now also means "serif" in Dutch. The OED's earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving stone-letter as a synonym . It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art grotesque usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic," commonly used for Japanese Gothic typefaces. East Asian equivalents In the Chinese and Japanese writing systems, there are common type styles based on the regular script for Chinese characters akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. In China the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called Song (宋体, Songti), in Japan the most popular serif style is called Minchō (明朝), and in Taiwan and Hong Kong it is called Ming (明體, Mingti). The names of these lettering styles come from the Song and Ming dynasties, when block printing flourished in China.

Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. To prevent wear and tear, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes; triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes; and overall geometrical regularity. In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on kanji and kana characters are called uroko—"fish scales." In Chinese, the serifs are called either youjiaoti (有脚体, lit. "forms with legs") or youchenxianti (有衬线体, lit. "forms with ornamental lines"). The other common East Asian style of type is called black (黑体/體, Heiti) in Chinese and Gothic(ゴシック体, Goshikku-tai) in Japanese.

This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif." This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards. Usage In traditional printing serifed fonts are used for body text because they are considered easier to read than sans-serif fonts for this purpose. Sans-serif fonts are more often used in headlines, headings, and shorter pieces of text and subject matter requiring a more casual feel than the formal look of serifed types. Serifed fonts are the overwhelming typeface choice for lengthy text printed in books, newspapers and magazines. For such purposes sans serif fonts are more acceptable in Europe than in North America, but still less common than serifed typefaces. While in print serifed fonts are considered more readable, sans-serif is considered more legible on computer screens. Most web pages employ sans-serif type for this reason. Hinting information, anti-aliasing, and subpixel rendering technologies have partially mitigated the legibility problem of serif fonts on screen. But the basic constraint of screen resolution — typically 100 pixels per inch or less — and small font sizes continues to limit their readability on screen. As serifs originated in inscription they are generally not used in handwriting.

A common exception is the printed capital I , where the addition of serifs distinguishes the character from lowercase L . Printed capital Js , and the numeral 1 are also often handwritten with serifs. Classification Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, modern and slab serif. Old Style Old style or humanist typefaces date back to 1465, and are characterized by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom), subtle differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast), and excellent readability. Old style typefaces are reminiscent of the humanist calligraphy from which their forms were derived. An old style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8 and 2 o'clock; serifs are almost always bracketed; head serifs are often angled. It has been said that the angled stressing of old style faces generates diagonal lock, which, when combined with their bracket serifs creates detailed, positive word-pictures (see bouma) for ease of reading. However, this theory is mostly contradicted by the parallel letterwise recognition model, which is widely accepted by cognitive psychologists who study reading.

Old style faces are sub-divided into Venetian and Aldine or Garalde. Examples of old style typefaces include Adobe Jenson (Venetian), Janson, Garamond, Bembo, Goudy Old Style, and Palatino (all Aldine or Garalde). Transitional Transitional or baroque serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century. They are among the most common, including such widespread typefaces as Times New Roman (1932) and Baskerville (1757). They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional." Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts. Modern Modern or Didone serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. Modern typefaces have a vertical stress, long and fine serifs, with minimal brackets. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines are very heavy. Most modern fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Common examples include Bodoni , Didot, and Computer Modern.

Slab serif Slab serif or Egyptian typefaces usually have little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves and usually have no bracket. Slab serif fonts have a bold, rectangular appearance and sometimes have fixed widths, meaning that all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space (as in a typewriter ). They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with serifs because the underlying character shapes are often similar to sans-serif typefaces, with less variation between thin and thick shapes on the character. (A subcategory of slab serif is the Clarendon typefaces, which do have small but significant brackets, and structures more similar to seriffed typefaces.) Slab serif typefaces date to around 1800. Examples of slab serif typefaces include Clarendon, Rockwell and Courier. (Wikipedia) Define serif | Dictionary and Thesaurus Extensive Definition In typography , serifs are non-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A font that has serifs is called a serif font (or seriffed font ). A font without serifs is called sans-serif , from the French sans, meaning "without".

Some typography sources refer to sans serif typefaces as "grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic," and serif types as "Roman." These terms are no longer commonly used however, except in specific font names. Origins & etymology Serifs are thought to have originated in the Roman alphabet with inscriptional lettering —words carved into stone in Roman antiquity . The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first brushed onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. The origin of the word "serif" is obscure, but apparently almost as recent as the type style.

In The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a compleat code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins , it defined surripses, usually pronounced surriphs, as 'projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all.' The standard also proposed that 'surripses' may be derived from the Greek words συν (together) and ριψισ (projection). In 1827, a Greek scholar Julian Hibbert printed his own experimental uncial Greek types. He explained that unlike the types of Bodoni's Callimachus, which were 'ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what I believe type-founders call syrifs or cerefs.' The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1841 for "sans serif", given as sanserif, and 1830 for "serif".

The OED speculates that "serif" was a back-formation from "sanserif." Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces "serif" to the Dutch noun schreef, meaning line, stroke of the pen, related to the verb schrappen: to delete, strike through. Schreef now also means "serif" in Dutch. The OED's earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875 , giving stone-letter as a synonym . It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art grotesque usually means "elaborately decorated." Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic," commonly used for Japanese Gothic typeface s. East Asian Equivalents In traditional printing serifed fonts are used for body text because they are easier to read than sans-serif fonts for this purpose. Sans-serif fonts are used for shorter pieces of text and subject matter requiring a more casual feel than the formal look of serifed types. Sans serif types have recently begun to supplant seriffed types for headings with a 'cleaner' look. Serifed fonts are the overwhelming typeface choice for lengthy text printed in books, newspapers and magazines.

For such purposes sans serif fonts are more acceptable in Europe than in North America, but still less common than serifed typefaces. While in print serifed fonts are considered more readable, sans-serif is considered more legible on computer screens. For this reason the majority of web pages employ sans-serif type. Hinting information , anti-aliased and sub-pixel rendering technologies have partially mitigated the legibility problem of serif fonts. But the basic constraint of screen resolution — typically 100 pixels per inch or less — and small font sizes continues to limit their readability on screen. As serifs originated in inscription, they are generally not utilized in handwriting. A common exception is the printed capital I , where the addition of serifs distinguish the character from lowercase L . Printed capital Js , and the numerals 1 and 7 are also often handwritten with serifs. Classification Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, slab serif, or modern.

Old Style Old style typefaces date back to 1465, and are characterized by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom), subtle differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast), and excellent readability. Old style typefaces are reminiscent of the humanist calligraphy from which their forms were derived. It has been said that the angled stressing of old style faces generates diagonal lock, which, when combined with their bracket serifs creates detailed, positive word-pictures (see bouma ) for ease of reading. However, this theory is mostly contradicted by the parallel letterwise recognition model, which is widely accepted by cognitive psychologists who study reading. Old style faces are sub-divided into Venetian and Aldine or Garalde. Examples of old style typefaces include Adobe Jenson (Venetian), Janson , Garamond , Bembo , Goudy Old Style , and Palatino (all Aldine or Garalde). Transitional Transitional (or "baroque") serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century.

They are among the most common, including such widespread typefaces as Times Roman (1932) and Baskerville (1757). They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional." Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts. Slab Serif Slab serif (a.k.a. "Egyptian") typefaces usually have little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves and usually have no bracket. Slab serif fonts have a bold, rectangular appearance and sometimes have fixed widths , meaning that all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space (as in a typewriter ). They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with serifs because the underlying character shapes are often similar to sans serif typefaces, with less variation between thin and thick shapes on the character. (A subcategory of slab serif is the Clarendon typefaces, which do have small but significant brackets, and structures more similar to seriffed typefaces.) Slab serif typefaces date to around 1800.

Examples of slab serif typefaces include Clarendon , Rockwell and Courier . Modern Modern serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. Modern typefaces have a vertical stress, long and fine serifs, with minimal brackets. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines are very heavy. Most modern fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Common examples include Bodoni , Century Schoolbook and Computer Modern . Hebrew Roman - definition of Roman by The Free Dictionary Roman - definition of Roman by The Free Dictionary a. Of or relating to ancient or modern Rome or its people or culture. b. Of or relating to the Roman Empire. 2. a. Of, relating to, or composed in the Latin language. b. Of or using the Latin alphabet. 3. Of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church. 4. Of or being an architectural style developed by the ancient Romans and characterized by the round arch as chief structural element, the vault, concrete masonry construction, and classical ornamentation. 5. roman Of or being a typestyle characterized by upright letters having serifs and vertical lines thicker than horizontal lines. n. 1.

A native, inhabitant, or citizen of ancient or modern Rome. 2. The Italian language as spoken in Rome. 3. One belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. 4. roman Roman print or typestyle. 5. Romans(used with a sing. verb) See Table at Bible . [Middle English, from Old English Rōmān or from Old French romain, both from Latin Rōmānus, from Rōma, Rome.] ro·man 1. A narrative poem or a prose tale in medieval French literature. 2. A novel. [French, from Old French romans, romance; see romance.] roman (ˈrəʊmən) adj (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) of, relating to, or denoting a vertical style of printing type: the usual form of type for most printed matter. Compare italic n (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) roman type or print [C16: so called because the style of letters is that used in ancient Roman inscriptions] roman (French rɔmɑ̃) n (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a metrical narrative in medieval French literature derived from the chansons de geste Roman 1.

(Placename) of or relating to Rome or its inhabitants in ancient or modern times 2. (Peoples) of or relating to Rome or its inhabitants in ancient or modern times 3. (Roman Catholic Church) of or relating to Roman Catholicism or the Roman Catholic Church 4. (Architecture) denoting, relating to, or having the style of architecture used by the ancient Romans, characterized by large-scale masonry domes, barrel vaults, and semicircular arches n 5. (Peoples) a citizen or inhabitant of ancient or modern Rome 6. (Roman Catholic Church) informal short for Roman Catholic ro•man 1. a metrical narrative, esp. in medieval French literature. 2. a novel. (ˈroʊ mən) adj. 1. of or pertaining to the ancient or modern city of Rome, or to its inhabitants. 2. of or pertaining to the ancient kingdom, republic, and empire whose capital was the city of Rome. 3. of a kind or character regarded as typical of the ancient Romans: Roman virtues. 4. (usu. l.c.) designating or pertaining to the upright style of printing types most commonly used in modern books, periodicals, etc.

5. of or pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church. 6. of or pertaining to the architecture of ancient Rome, characterized by semicircular arches, domes, groin and barrel vaults, and the use of elaborated forms of the Greek orders. 7. written in or pertaining to Roman numerals. n. 8. a native, inhabitant, or citizen of ancient or modern Rome. 9. (usu. l.c.) roman type or lettering. [before 900; directly < Latin Rōmānus (see Rome , -an 1), or continuing Middle English Romain < Old French < Latin, Old English Roman(e) < Latin] ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: 1. Roman - a resident of modern Rome capital of Italy , Eternal City , Italian capital , Rome , Roma - capital and largest city of Italy; on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire Italian - a native or inhabitant of Italy 2.

Roman - an inhabitant of the ancient Roman Empire Roman Empire - an empire established by Augustus in 27 BC and divided in AD 395 into the Western Roman Empire and the eastern or Byzantine Empire; at its peak lands in Europe and Africa and Asia were ruled by ancient Rome European - a native or inhabitant of Europe palatine - any of various important officials in ancient Rome 3. proportional font - any font whose different characters have different widths Adj. 1. Roman - relating to or characteristic of people of Rome; "Roman virtues"; "his Roman bearing in adversity"; "a Roman nose" 2. Roman - of or relating to or derived from Rome (especially ancient Rome); "Roman architecture"; "the old Roman wall" capital of Italy , Eternal City , Italian capital , Rome , Roma - capital and largest city of Italy; on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire antiquity - the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe 3. Roman - characteristic of the modern type that most directly represents the type used in ancient Roman inscriptions 4.

أحْرُف طِباعِيَّه صَغيرَهروماني رومانيّ شَخْص روماني romàromana Romalı eski Romaya aitLatin harfleri Roma thuộc La Mã B. N (person) → romano/a m/f C.

CPD Roman alphabet N → alfabeto m romano Roman candle N → candela f romana Roman Catholicism N → catolicismo m Roman numeral N → número m romano roman [ˈrəʊmən] N (Typ) → tipo m romano Roman a Roman villa → une villa romaine Roman Empire n → Romain (e) m/f He's a Roman Catholic → Il est catholique .Roman Catholic Church n the Roman Catholic Church → l'Église f catholique Roman Catholicism n → catholicisme m Roman (Typ: also Roman type) → Magerdruck m adj (= Roman Catholic) → römisch-katholisch ; the Roman Church → die römische Kirche roman (Typ) → mager ; roman letters → Magerdruck m Roman adj → (römisch-) katholisch ; the Roman Church → die (römisch-) katholische Kirche n → Katholik (in) m(f), → (Römisch-) Katholische (r) mf Roman Catholicism 2.

n (person) → Romano/a (Typ) roman → (carattere m) romano Roman (ˈrəumən) adjective 1. connected with Rome, especially ancient Rome. Roman coins. Romeins روماني римски romano římský römisch romersk ρωμαϊκός romano rooma رومی roomalainen romain רוֹמָאִי रोमवासी rimski római Romawi rómverskur romano 古代ローマの 로마의 romėniškas, romėnų, Romos Romas-; romiešu- berkaitan zaman Rom Romeins romersk rzymski رومی romano roman римский rímsky rimski rimski romersk, romar- เกี่ยวกับโรมัน Roma ; eski Romaya ait 古羅馬的 римський; латинський رومی thuộc La Mã 古罗马的 2. (no capital) (of printing) in ordinary upright letters like these.

romein أحْرُف طِباعِيَّه صَغيرَه прав шрифт romano tištěný antikvou/latinkou römisch antikva όρθια τυπογραφικά στοιχεία romano antiikva حروف معمولی antiikva romain אוֹת זְקוּפָה रोम साम्राज्यक विषयक rimski huruf tegak latneskt letur romano ローマ字体 로마활자의 romaninis taisnie burti tulisan roman romeins antikva łaciński معمولی حرفونه romano roman латинский tlačený latinkou latinični romersk ตัวพิมพ์โรมัน Latin harfleri 正體字 прямий світлий (шрифт) رومن رسم خط theo kiểu chữ Rôman 正体字 noun a person belonging to Rome, especially to ancient Rome.

Rooms شَخْص روماني римлянин romano Říman der/die Römer(in) romer Ρωμαίος romano roomlane رومی roomalainen romain/-aine רוֹמָאִי सादा टाइप रोमन Rimljanin antikva (betű) orang Romawi Rómverji romano 古代ローマ人 (고대) 로마인 romėnas romietis orang Rom Romein romer Rzymianin رومی romano roman римлянин Riman Rimljan Rimljanin romare ชาวโรมัน Romalı 古羅馬人 римлянин روم کا باشندہ người theo đế chế La mã 古罗马人 Roman alphabet the alphabet in which Western European languages such as English are written.

Romeinse alfabet الأبْجَدِيَّة اللاتينيَّه латинска азбука alfabeto romano latinská abeceda das römische Alphabet latinsk alfabet λατινικό αλφάβητο alfabeto romano ladina tähed الفبای لاتین latinalaiset kirjaimet alphabet romain א”ב לָטִינִי रोमन वर्णमाला जो अभी भी पश्चिमी यूरोप में कुछ सुधारों के साथ चलती है Rimska abeceda latin betűs ábécé abjad Romawi rómverskt stafróf alfabeto romano ローマ字 로마자 lotyniškas alfabetas latīņu alfabēts tulisan roman Romeins alfabet latinsk alfabet alfabet łaciński د لاتین توری alfabeto romano alfabet

 latin латинский алфавит latinská abeceda latinica rimsko pismo romerska alfabetet อักษรโรมัน Latin alfabesi 拉丁字母 латинський алфавіт رومن حروف bảng chữ cái La mã 罗马字母（拉丁字母） Roman Catholic (also Catholic) (a member) of the Christian church which recognizes the Pope as its head.

Rooms-Katoliek كاثوليكي، تابِع للكنيسَة الكاثوليكيَّه католик católico římský katolík römisch – katholisch romersk katolsk ρωμαιοκαθολικός católico katoliiklane وابسته به کلیسای کاتولیک roomalaiskatolinen catholique נוֹצרִי קָתוֹלִי रोम के चर्च का (सदस्य) katolik római katolikus warga Katolik Roma rómversk-kaþólskur cattolico カトリック教の (로마) 가톨릭 교도 (Romos) katalikas Romas katolis roman Katolik rooms-katholieke romersk-katolsk rzymski katolik د کاتولیک کلیسا پوری مربوط católico (romano-)catolic католик rímskokatolí

k rimokatolik rimokatolik romersk-katolsk นับถือศาสนาคริสต์นิกายโรมันคาทอลิก Katolik 羅馬天主教(徒) католик عیساءی گرجے کا فرد người theo đạo thiên chúa 罗马天主教徒 Roman Catholicism (also Catholicism) the beliefs, government etc of the Roman Catholic Church.

Rooms-Katolisisme الكَنيسَة الكاثوليكيَّة الرّومانيه Католицизъм catolicismo římskokatolická církev der Katholizismus katolicisme ρωμαιοκαθολικισμός catolicismo (rooma)katoliiklus مذهب کاتولیک roomalaiskatolisuus l'Eglise catholique (romaine) נָצרוּת קָתוֹלִית रोमन कैथोलिकता, रोमन कैथोलिकवाद katolicizam katolicizmus agama Katolik Roma rómversk-kaþólsk trú cattolicesimo カトリック教 (로마) 가톨릭교 Romos katalikų tikėjimas Romas katoļu baznīca kepercayaan roman Katolik rooms katholicisme katolisisme wyznanie rzymsko-katolickie د کاتول

یک مذهب catolicismo Biserica Romano-Catolică католичество rímskokatolícka cirkev katolištvo rimokatoličanstvo katolicism[en] ศาสนาคริสต์นิกายโรมันคาทอลิก Katoliklik 羅馬天主教(會) римсько-католицьке віросповідання رومن کلیسا کے اصول đạo thiên chúa 罗马天主教（会） Roman numerals I,II,III etc, as opposed to the Arabic numerals 1,2,3 etc.

Romeinse syfers الأرْقام الرّومانيَّه римски цифри numerais romanos římské číslice römische Ziffern romertal λατινικοί αριθμοί número romano rooma numbrid شمارگان رومی؛ عدد نویسی رومی roomalaiset numerot chiffre romain סִיפרָה רוֹמִית रोमन अंक rimski brojevi római számok angka Romawi rómverskar tölur numeri romani ローマ数字 로마 숫자 romėniški skaitmenys romiešu cipari nombor roman Romeinse cijfers romertall cyfry rzymskie د رومی تورو لیکل numerais romanos cifre romane римские цифры rímske číslice rimske številke rimski brojevi romerska siffror เลขโรมัน Romen rakamları 羅馬數字 рим

ські цифри رومن ہندسے chữ số La mã 罗马数字 roman

Question: Which word, broadly synonymous with 'typeface', derives from French 'to melt'?
Answer: Font