ENGLISH
REFERENCE

font

n. countable
B1 Intermediate US //ˈfɑnt// UK //fˈɒnt// font Informal

n. a specific style and size of text used in printing or on a screen. You choose a font to change how the letters look in your document.

n. a set of type characters of a particular design and size. In modern digital contexts, it often refers to the digital file containing the typeface design.


SIMPLE

I think this font is too small to read.

CONTEXTUAL

The graphic designer suggested using a sans-serif font to give the website a more modern and clean appearance.

COMPLEX

While the branding guide specifies a serif font for all printed correspondence, the digital marketing team prefers a more legible typeface for mobile applications.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

From Old English font, an early borrowing from Latin fōns, fontis (“fountain”).

Etymology 2

From Middle French fonte (“act or process of founding or melting; act of producing items from molten metal; cast iron; set of type”) (modern French fonte), either: from fondre (“to melt, melt down; to smelt”), from Old French fondre, from Latin fundere, the present active infinitive of fundō (“to pour out; to make by smelting, found”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰewd- (“to pour”); or from Late Latin fundita, a noun use of funditus, a perfect passive participle form of Latin fundō (see above; the classical Latin form is fūsus).

Etymology 3

Apparently from fount, with influence from the senses above (under etymology 1).

Usage

Commonly paired with 'size' or 'style'; often used interchangeably with 'typeface' in non-technical contexts.

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