kern
v.v. to adjust the space between two specific letters so they look better together. You do this to make sure the text is easy to read and looks professional.
v. to adjust the horizontal spacing between individual letter pairs in a typeface to achieve a visually consistent appearance. Typically used to correct gaps between characters with slanted or open shapes like 'A', 'V', or 'W'.
I need to kern these two letters because they look too far apart.
The graphic designer spent hours manually kerning the headline to ensure the logo looked perfectly balanced.
While modern software handles most spacing automatically, high-end typography often requires manual intervention to kern problematic pairs that create distracting visual gaps in large-scale display text.
The unincorporated community in Missouri is named after Robert Kern. The Kern River is named after Edward Kern.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object, usually the letters or the text being adjusted.
I need to tracking the textI need to kern the textLearners confuse 'kerning' (spacing between two specific letters) with 'tracking' (spacing across a whole block of text).