click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Typography Anatomy
Typographic Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Area where two angled strokes come together at the top of a letter is called a(n) | Apex |
| A projecting horizontal stroke that is unattached on of or both ends, as in the letters T, K, and E | Arm |
| A stroke on a lowercase letter that rises above the meanline | Ascender |
| An imaginary line upon which the base of each capital letter rests | Baseline |
| A curved stroke enclosing the counter form of a letter (positive space.) An exception is the bottom form of the lowercase roman g, which is called the loop. | Bowl, open or closed |
| An imaginary line that runs along the tops of the capital letters | capline |
| the negative space that is fully or partially enclosed by a letterform | counter |
| the horizontal stroke connecting two sides of the letterform (as in e, A, and H) or bisecting the main stroke (as in f ant t) | Crossbar |
| a stroke on a lowercase letterform that falls below the baseline | descender |
| a small stroke that projects from the upper right side of the bowl of the lowercase roman g or r | ear |
| the (negative) enclosed part of the lowercase e | eye |
| the contoured edge that connects the serif and stem in the bracketed serifs | fillet/bracket |
| the thinnest stroke within a typeface that has strokes of varying weights | hairline |
| the lower diagonal stroke on the letter k | leg |
| a typographic character produced by conbining two or more letters | ligature |
| the stroke that connects the bowl and the loop of a lowercase roman g | link |
| bottom form of the lowercase letter g | loop, open or closed |
| an imaginary line that establishes the eight of the body of lowercase letters | meanline |
| "feet" of a letter | serifs |
| a curved stroke projecting from a stem as in the letter R | shoulder |
| the central curved stroke of the letter s | spine |
| a projection - smaller than a serif - that reinforces the point at the end of a curved stroke, as in the capitol letter G | spur |
| a major vertical or diagonal stroke in the letter form | stem |
| any of the linear elements within a letterform; originally, any mark or dash made by the movement of a pen or brush in writing | stroke |
| a diagonal stroke on the upper case Q | tail |
| the end of anystroke that does not terminate with a serif | terminal |
| the distance from the baseline to the mealine. typically, this is the height of lowercase letters and most easily measured on the lowercase x | x-height |
| thinner stroke in a letter | hairline stroke |
| thicker stroke on a letter | stem stroke |
| without feet | sans serif |
| the end terminals on the right side of an uppercase F | vertical terminal |
| the bottom of the main stroke of an upper case F | horizontal stroke |
| the extended top of a lower case 'a' that is squared | squared terminal |
| the extended top of a lower case 'a' that is rounded | rounded terminal |
| the extended top of a lower case 'a' that is slight angled right to left | sheared terminal |
| the extended top of a lower case 'a' that is rounded with the negative space being pushed in more than a ball | ball terminal |
| the extended top of a lower case 'a' that is in the shape of a fat teardrop | teardrop terminal |
| transitional area found where the stroke gently curves into the serif | bracket |
| slightly bowed arch on a serif | cupped arch |
| a flat serif | flat bottom edge |
| thin serif no bracket | didot |
| equal weight stroke and seri | lubalin |
| a horizontal stroke intersecting the main stroke is called a | cross stroke |
| a letter 'o' that is slightly askew, diaganol | acute stress |
| an 'o' that has a center line at a 45 degree angle | no stress |
| the contained space, the negative space, of a letter | counter |
| the nearly contained space, the negative space, of a letter | open counter |
| the negative space of a letter form where to letters meet, such as in a W | crotch |
| the negative space of a letter form where to letters meet, with greater than a 90 degree angle | obtuse crotch |
| the negative space of a letter form where to letters meet, smaller than a 90 degree angle | acute crotch |
| Area where two angled strokes come together at the bottom of a letter is called a(n) | vertex |
| half serif found at the terminal of a straight horizontal stroke is called a(n) | beak |
| the serif on a curved terminal is called a(n) | barb |