Serif Serif Sans-serif Category="Typography"
For the software company Serif, see Serif (company).

[image]Sans-serif font
[image]Serif font
[image]Serif font
(red serifs)

In Typography, serifs are the small features at the end of strokes within letters. "Serif" (or "roman") also refers to a font that has these features. A Typeface (font) without serifs is called Sans-serif (from French sans: "without"), also referred to as grotesque (or, in German, grotesk) and gothic.

In the Roman alphabet, serifs originated with the carving of words into stone in ancient Italy. Artisans would carve out a bit of extra space at the end of the long strokes of letters in order to prevent gravel and dust from collecting in the corners of the letters.

The Etymology of "serif" is obscure, but in any case almost as recent as the face. The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary are 1841 for sans serif, which the OED gives as sanserif, and 1830 for serif. Indeed, the OED speculates that serif was a Back-formation from sanserif. On the other hand, 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 also meaning "to write". Incidentally, 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. In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on Kanji and Kana characters are called uroko (fish scales).

San Serriffe is an elaborate typography related joke.

Typically in traditional print, serif fonts are used for Body text because the serifs tend to guide the eye along the line, while sans serif fonts are used for headings and for small sections of text, because they typically look 'cleaner.' However, the unique nature of computers and websites as print are causing many to rethink this order. Thus, on webpages some posit serif for titles and headings while using sans serif for Body text.

Classification

Serif fonts can be classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, slab serif, or modern.

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Old Style

Old style typefaces, as their name suggests, date back to the 15th century. They are characterized by a diagonal emphasis, subtle differences between thick and thin lines, and a high degree of readability. Old style typefaces tend to be reminiscent of human handwriting. Examples include Garamond, Adobe Caslon, Goudy Old Style, and Palatino.

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Transitional

Transitional (or "baroque") serif typefaces are among the most common and include such widespread fonts as Times Roman and Baskerville. Differences between thick and thin lines are more obvious than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than modern serif fonts. Transitional serif fonts are neutral in appearance, partially due to their universal use as a default font.

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Slab Serif

Slab serif (a.k.a. "egyptian") typefaces have very little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves. 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). Examples include Clarendon, Rockwell and Courier.

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Modern

Modern serif typefaces are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. 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. The most common example of a modern serif font is Bodoni.