In this section we will talk about important terms about printing world and typography.

Continue Typography Terms

Parallel mark A type character (*) used to denote a reference mark. Parenthesis A pair of rounded brackets ( ), although, accurately, the term means a nonessential word, clause, or sentence inserted into a text that can be marked off by dashes or comas as well as brackets.

Period A full stop, or full point. Punctuation mark A system of marks used to clarity text and separate sentences.

Quotation/quote marks; quotes Inverted commas and apostrophes, either single (‘ ’) or double (“ ”), used before and after a word or phrase to indicate that it is a quotation, title, jargon, slang, etc.

Raised point A period (full point) placed at the mid-height of capitals rather than on the baseline. Also called a raised dot or raised period.

Reference mark Typographic term describing symbols used in text to refer to footnotes, for example, an asterisk (*) or dagger (*).

Scratch comma A comma rendered as a short, straight oblique line. Section A symbol (*) used as a reference mark in text to draw the reader’s attention to a footnote.
1632 separator The line separating the denominator from the numerator in a fraction.

Side sorts In traditional metal typesetting, those characters in a font of type that are less frequently used and are therefore kept in small boxes at the side of the drawer or case.
Slash An obliquely sloping line, or forward slash (/). Reversal forms a backslash (\). Also called a solidus.

Smart quotes A feature in many application that automatically converts inverted commas (“prime” marks) to correct quotation marks by gauging their positions in the text. Also referred to colloquially as curly quotes.
Sort A character used in text that is not part of the main font used, such as dingbat or pi character.

Special character A character obtained by pressing modifier, or combinations of, keyboard keys.
Special sorts Characters not usually included in a font of type, such as fractions or ornaments. Also called peculiars or pi character (not to be confused with pie type, which is accidentally mixed type).

Split fraction Type for fractions. This comes in two parts, the upper bearing a numeral only, and the lower a numeral and dividing line above it.

Stamp In conventional metal typesetting, the compositor’s term for a single piece of type.
Star A typographical ornament or device.

Strake though /strike thru Type characters with a horizontal rule passing though the center. Also called lined characters or erased characters.

Superior character A figure or letter that is smaller than the text size and aligned with the height of the capitals. Superior characters are distinct from superscript, which appears above capital height. Also called cock-up figures, cock-up letters superior figures, or superior letters.

Superscript Figures or letter that are smaller than the text size and raised above the height of capital letters. As distinct from superior characters, which are aligned at capital letter height.

Turned commas Inverted commas. Type synopsis/specimen sheet A printed sample of a font showing the full character set.

Typesetter’s quotation marks The traditional curly quotation marks and inverted commas used in typesetting, frequently abandoned in DTP software.

Umlaut A pair of dots placed over a vowel (*) to indicated a vowel change in some languages, particularly German.
Agate A measurement of column depth in newspaper ad magazine classified advertisements. Fourteen agates equal one inch.

Alphabet length The measurement, in points, of the entire length of the 26 alphabet characters of a font of any one size set in lowercase. Therefore, 39 characters have a length of 1.5 alphabets.

Ascent The amount of space, measured from the baseline, required to accommodate a font. The ascent value is determined by the font designer and is the value used by many page-layout applications for leading and aligning boxes.

Body size The size, in points, by which type is measured. Originally, this meant the body of the piece of metal on which the character sits, but in computer typography it means the size of a font without leading.

Bourgeois A traditional term for a type size of 8 1/2 points. Brevier A traditional term for a type size of 7.6 points. Brilliant A traditional term for a type size of 3 1/2 points. Canon A traditional term for a type size of 48 points.

Excelsior A traditional size of type of about 4 points, or half the size of brevier (8 points). Gem A traditional term for a type size of 4 points.

Great primer A traditional term for a type size of about 18 points. Long primer A traditional term for a type size of 9 1/2 points.

Minikin A traditional term for a type size of3 points. Minion A traditional term for a type size of 7.3 points.

Nonpareil A traditional term for a type size of 6 points. The name is still sometimes used (although increasingly rarely) as an alternative term to indicate 6-point leading.

Paragon A traditional term for a type size of 20 points, originating in 16th-century Holland. It was also described as a two-line primer. Pearl A traditional term for a type size of 5 points. Ruby A traditional term for a type size of 5 1/2 points. Also called an agate.

Cap height The height of a capital letter, measured from its baseline. Cap line An imaginary horizontal line defining the tops of capital letters.

Card fount/font A traditional term fro the smallest complete size of a font design manufactured and sold by a typefounder.

Cast-off The process of estimating the amount of space or number of pages that will be required to accomodate copy to be typeset. Traditionally, this was done either by comparing the character count to that of a printed sample of the font to be used (at the correct size weight, leading, measure, etc.), or by using the typefounder’s copyfitting tables, which were produced for every font the foundry manufactured. Nowadays, page-layout and word-processing applications provide instant and accurate calculations of coy length.

Cast-up In traditional typesetting, the process of calculating, for costing purposes, the amount of typesetting that will be required to complete a job. In mechanical typesetting, the cast-up entails estimating not only the time to set actual characters, but also estimating the amount of white space required for word space, extra leading, and white lines, since these take up composting time as well as requiring extra metal for the spaces between the type.

Character space The distance between each character as determined by the font designer, as distinct from kerning and tracking, which are modifications of that distance. Character width The width of each character, determined from the origin of one to the origin of the next.

Cicero A unit of the European Didot system for measuring the width (measure) of a line of type and the depth of a page. Once Cicero equals 12 Didot points, or 4.511mm (3/16in). The unit is said to derive from the size of type cut for a 15th century edition of Cicero’s De Oratore.

Composition size(s) The traditional name for any size of type below 14pt, so called because there were the size that could be set on a hot metal composting (typesetting) machine.

Copyfitting Calculating the amount of space typeset copy will occupy when set in a specific font, size and measure. Also, modifying typeset copy so it will fit into a given space. This may be done by variously cutting or adding words, increasing or decreasing character or word space, horizontal scaling, etc.

Cpi abb.: Characters per inch the number of type character per inch in copyfitting. Cpl abb.: Characters per inch the number of type character per line in copyfitting.

Diamond A traditional term for a type size of 4 1/2 points. Didot point The unit of type measurement used in continental Europe, devised by Francoise-Ambroise Didot in 1775. A Didot point measures 0.343mm (0.0148inch), compared with the Anglo-American point of 0.35mm (0.013837inch). Twelve Didot point are refereed to as a cicero or Didot pica.

Differential (letter) spacing The spacing of each letter according to its individual width. Display matter/type Larger-size fonts — usually 14pt or more – used for heading, for example. As distinct from smaller sizes used for continuous text, caption, and so on. Display size (s) Traditionally, any size of type above 14pt.

Double pica A traditional term for a type size, originally about 22 points, but standardized to 24 points (2 X 12pt picas). Also called a two line pica.

Em Traditionally, the width occupied by a capital M that, usually being a square, gave rise to a linear measurement equal to the point size of the type being set; thus, a 9-point em is 9 points wide. A 12-point em is generally called a pica, or pica em, and measures 4.22mm (0.166inch). Half and em is called an en.

Em quad An em space, which is the size of a square of the type being set. Emerald A traditional term for a type size of about 6 1/2 points, between the nonpareil and the minion, and also known as a minionette.

En Half and em. En quad A space the size of half an em, or half the square of the type size being set. En space A space the width of half an em, or half the point size of the type size being set.

English/English A traditional size of type of between about 12 1/2 and 14 points, used with reference to any font, even if it were a foreign language font (English greek, for example). Before 1800, all black-letter typefaces were also refereed to as English, so a 14-point black-letter type would have been described as English-english.

Full on the body A font of capital letters that covers the maximum area of the body. Hairspace In traditional typesetting, a very narrow space between type characters.

Kerning The adjustment of the space between adjacent type characters to optimize their appearance. Traditionally, kerned letters were those that physically overhung the metal body of the next character — particularly important in italic typefaces. The roman versions of most metal fonts were designed so they did not need kerning. Kerning should not be confused with tracking, which is the adjustment of space over a number of adjacent characters. Also known as mortising.

kerning pair Any two adjacent characters to which a specific kerning value has been applied.
kerning table In some applications, a list of information describing the automatic kerning values of a font, which can sometimes be modified. kerning value The space between two adjacent characters, usually measured in units of an em.

Letterspacing/letterfit The adjustment of space between type characters (from the allocated by the font designer) by kerning or by increasing or decreasing the tracking.

Line guage A rule marked with a scale of measurements in varying increments of point size.

Long-bodied type Metal type character cast on larger bodies than usual, thus increasing the space between lines without the need for leading.

Measure The width f a justified typeset line or column of text, traditionally measured in picas, points, Didots, or ciceros, but now commonly in inches and millimeters as well. Also referred to as line length.

Mid(dle) space In traditional metal typesetting, a standard word space measuring one quarter of an em. Mortise Cutting away the sides of type to allow closer setting — also known as kerning.

Pica A typographer’s and printer’s unit of linear measurement, equivalent to 12 points. One inch comprises 6.0225 picas or 72.27 points. Computer applications, however, use the PostScript value or exactly six picas, or 72 points, to the inch.

Pitch A unit of measure of type width equivalent to the umber of characters per linear inch; 8-ptich, for example equals 8 characters per inch.

Point The basic unit of Anglo-American type measurement. In the past, no two printers could agree on a standard system of type measurement; therefore, type cast in one foundry could not be mixed with that cast in another. However, in the 18th century, the French typographer Pierre Simon Fournier introduced a standard unit that he called a point. This was further developed by Francoise-Ambroise Didot into a European standard (Didot point), although this was not adopted by either Britain or the U.S. The Anglo-American system divides one inc into 72 parts, each one a point (mathematically, one point should equal 0.013837 inch, with the result that 72 points equal only 0.996264 inch. the European didot point equals 0.0148 inch and 12 of these form a unit measuring 0.1776 inch). There is no relationship between the Anglo-American point and the Didot point, and neither of them relate to metric measurement. The introduction of the computer was a design tool has established a new international standard of measurement based on the Anglo-American system. However, on the computer, on point measures 0.013889 inch, and 72 points equal exactly one inch — no coincidence, then, that computer monitors have a standard resolution of 72 dpi.

Punctuation space A space the width of a period (full point) in a given font.
Quad A contraction of quadrat (never used in full). In conventional typesetting, quads are interword spaces whose sizes are usually en, em, 2-em, 3-em, or 4-em; thus to quad, or quadding, is to fill out a line with quad spaces.

Set The width of an individual type character. Set width/size The space allowed across the body of each character in a line of text.

Sidebearing A space assigned to each side of a font character, adjustable if the application permits.
Small pica A traditional term for a type size of about 10 _ points.

Space A blank (nonprinting) spacer piece, used singly or in multiples, to create the spaces in text, Deriving from metal typesetting, which used graded units of size, a standard word space, called a “mid” space, measures one-quarter of an em, although in computer applications it is sometimes possible to define this to your won preference.