Learn To Speak Typographers Slang - A Glossary of Type

Term	Definition
Baseline	The invisible line on which most letters sit.
Cap Height / Cap Line	The top boundary of uppercase letters.
X‑Height	The height of lowercase letters (like “x”), excluding ascenders and descenders.
Ascender	The part of a lowercase letter that extends above the x‑height (e.g., “h”, “b”).
Descender	The part of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline (e.g., “g”, “y”).
Serif	Small strokes attached at the end of letterforms; found in serif typefaces.
Sans‑Serif / Grotesque	Typefaces without serifs; “Grotesque” is an early sans‑serif category.
Slab Serif	Serif typeface with thick, block‑like serifs.
Monospaced	A font where each character takes up the same horizontal width.
Ligature	Two or more characters joined into a single glyph (e.g., “fi”, “æ”).
Kerning	Adjustment of space between specific letter pairs.
Tracking	Uniform adjustment of spacing across a range of characters.
Leading (Line‑Spacing)	Vertical space between baselines of consecutive lines of text.
Weight	The thickness of strokes in a typeface (e.g., Light, Bold).
Italic / Oblique	A slanted version of the font; italics are redesigned, obliques are mechanically slanted.
Typeface vs. Font	Typeface is the design; font refers to a specific file or style implementation.
Glyph	A single visual representation of a character in a font.
Alternate Glyph / Swash	Optional stylized or decorative glyph variations.
Stroke / Stem	The lines that make up a glyph; stems are the main vertical strokes.
Bowl / Counter / Aperture	Enclosed or partially enclosed spaces in letters; apertures are open counters.
Arm / Leg / Shoulder / Spine	Specific stroke parts—arms and legs extend, shoulders curve, the spine is the central curve of an “S”.
Apex / Vertex	The upper (apex) or lower (vertex) pointed junctions of strokes.
Arc	A curved stroke element within letters.
Foot / Spur	The base of a stroke or a small projection from a curved stroke.
Ball / Teardrop Terminal	Rounded decorative stroke endings, often found on serif fonts.
Joint / Crotch	The point where two strokes meet, like in “v”.
Double‑Story	Letters like “a” or “g” with two counters (e.g., Times “a”).
Point Size	The size of the font, measured in points (~1/72 inch).
Em / En (units)	Em equals the current font size; En is half that. Used for spacing metrics.
Condensed / Expanded	Width-variant styles of a typeface.
Contrast	Variation between thick and thin strokes in a font.
Typographic Color / Rhythm	The overall texture or ‘grayness’ of text blocks.
Hierarchy / Scale	Visual importance created through size, weight, etc.
Legibility / Readability	How easily text can be read, influenced by spacing, x‑height, etc.
Copyfitting / Optimal Line Length	Adjusting font and layout for readability—ideal line length is typically 50–70 chars.
Widows / Orphans / Rivers	Layout issues—lone lines or distracting vertical spaces in paragraph text.
Dingbats / Fleurons	Symbol or ornamental fonts (bullet fonts, decorative elements).
Drop Cap	A large initial letter spanning multiple lines.
Pilcrow / Ellipsis / Octothorp	Special characters like ¶, …, and #.
Raster / Anti‑aliasing	Pixel rendering of fonts and smoothing techniques on screens.
Hinting	Instructions in fonts improving legibility at small sizes.
Static / Kinetic / Fluid Typography	Static, animated, or responsive typographic styles.
Axis / Stress	The orientation of stroke thickness variation in letterforms.
Small Caps	Capital letterforms scaled to x‑height.
Subscript / Superscript	Smaller characters positioned below or above the baseline.
Gutter	Spacing between columns in multi-column layouts.
Justify	Aligning text evenly to both left and right margins.
Typography	The craft and technique of arranging type.
GSUB (Glyph Substitution Table)	OpenType table that substitutes glyphs—used for ligatures, alternates, contextual forms. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
GPOS (Glyph Positioning Table)	OpenType table that handles precise glyph placement—kerning, mark positioning, cursive attachments. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
GDEF (Glyph Definition Table)	OpenType table that classifies glyphs (base, mark, ligature) and defines caret positions.
BASE (Baseline Table)	OpenType table for baseline alignment across scripts (e.g., roman, ideographic, hanging).
JSTF (Justification Table)	OpenType table that supports script-specific justification (e.g., Arabic kashida).
Unicode	The universal character encoding standard covering nearly all scripts and symbols.
Blackletter	A Gothic script style (Textura, Fraktur) with medieval calligraphic texture.
Transitional Serif	Serif style between old-style and modern (e.g., Baskerville), moderate contrast.
Old‑style Serif	Serif faces with diagonal stress and bracketed serifs; inspired by Renaissance writing.
Didone / Modern Serif	High-contrast serif fonts with vertical stress and fine hairlines (e.g., Bodoni).
Display Typeface	Highly stylized fonts for headlines or large sizes, often too decorative for body text.
Text Typeface	Fonts optimized for body text and readability at small sizes.
Geometric Sans‑Serif	Sans fonts based on simple geometric shapes (e.g., Futura).
Humanist Sans‑Serif	Sans faces with calligraphic influence and subtle stroke contrast.
Neo‑Grotesque Sans‑Serif	Neutral, modern sans-serifs (e.g., Helvetica, Univers).
Script Typeface	Typefaces that mimic cursive handwriting or calligraphy.
Variable Font	A single font file that supports multiple axes (weight, width, optical size).
Ligature Caret	A marker in ligature glyphs to define cursor/caret placement.
Contextual Alternates (calt)	An OpenType feature for substituting glyphs based on context.
Stylistic Set (ssXX)	Predefined alternate glyph sets that can be turned on manually.
Oldstyle Figures (onum)	Numerals with varied heights and alignments for flowing text.
Lining Figures (lnum)	Numerals aligned to cap height, consistent with uppercase letters.
Proportional Figures (pnum)	Numbers with variable widths designed for visual harmony.
Tabular Figures (tnum)	Monospaced numerals for tables and aligned columns.
Discretionary Ligatures (dlig)	Decorative ligatures applied optionally for stylistic effect.
Fractions (frac / afrc)	OpenType features that auto-create fraction glyphs.
Swash Capitals	Highly decorative uppercase glyphs, often with flourishing strokes.
Initial/Final Forms (init / fina)	Contextual forms used at the beginning or end of words (common in Arabic).
Split Diacritics	Diacritics positioned separately from base glyphs (e.g., Vietnamese).
Glyph Coverage	The set of Unicode blocks and scripts supported by a font.
Script Tag	An OpenType label identifying the script for a set of features (e.g., “latn”).
Feature Tag	A four-letter code defining OpenType features (e.g., kern, liga).
Lookup Table	A GSUB/GPOS structure defining specific substitutions or positioning rules.
Coverage Table	Specifies which glyphs are affected by a lookup in GSUB/GPOS.