cicero
n. countablen. a specific size of text used in printing, mostly in Europe. It is equal to 12 points and is used to measure how wide or long a page is.
n. a unit of typographic measure equal to 12 Didot points, approximately 4.511 millimetres. Predominantly used in continental European printing traditions, it serves as the standard for measuring line lengths and column widths.
The printer set the column width to twenty ciceros.
Traditional European typographers often prefer the cicero over the pica when designing layouts for high-end art books.
While the Anglo-American system relies on the pica, the cicero remains the historical benchmark for typographic dimensions across much of Europe, reflecting a distinct evolution in printing standards.
Borrowed from Latin Cicerō, a cognomen in reference to warts (cicer (“chickpea”)). The Latinate form, based on the nominative, displaced Middle English Ciceroun, based on the oblique stem.
Commonly used in the plural when referring to specific measurements.