serif

See also: şerif and šerif

English

A serif font and a sans serif one.

Etymology

From earlier ceriph, ceref, of obscure derivation. There are two (not directly interrelated) candidates for a possible Dutch origin: 1.) the noun schreef (“stroke”, now also “serif” as a semantic loan), related with schrapen (“to scrape”); and 2.) the verb schrafferen (“to provide with horizontal lines, to shade”), from Italian sgraffiare. For the latter, compare German Schraffe (“serif”), although this again may be a semantic loan based on the English word rather than original to it. Alternatively, from Late Latin cerificus (“waxen”), from Latin cera (“wax”), after the ruled lines used in writing on wax tablets.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɹɪf/, /səˈɹiːf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪf, -iːf

Noun

serif (plural serifs)

1. (typography) A short line added to the end of a stroke in traditional typefaces, such as Times New Roman.
   • 2018, Paul W. Ross, Revival: The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists:

     It is generally believed, by those who study such things, that serif typefaces are easier to read when reading a lot of words. The hickeys (serifs) on each letter tend to push our eye toward the next letter.

Derived terms

• sans serif
• slab serif
• square serif

Translations

short line in a font

• Arabic: مذيل (muḏayaail), سيرف (sīrif)
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 襯線／衬线 (zh) (chènxiàn)

• Czech: serif (cs) m, patka f
• Dutch: schreef (nl)
• Finnish: pääteviiva (fi)
• French: empattement (fr) m, sérif (fr) m
• German: Serife (de) f
• Greek: ακρεμόνας (el) m (akremónas), πατούρα (el) f (patoúra)
• Hebrew: תָּג (he) m (tag)
• Hungarian: betűtalp
• Irish: seiríf f, trasnán m (dated), trasmhír f
• Italian: grazia (it) f
• Japanese: セリフ (ja) (serifu)
• Korean: 세리프 (seripeu)
• Lithuanian: užkardėlė f
• Macedonian: се́риф m (sérif)
• Norwegian: serif
• Polish: szeryf (pl) m
• Portuguese: serifa (pt) f
• Russian: засе́чка (ru) f (zaséčka), подсе́чка (ru) f (podséčka), отсе́чка (ru) f (otséčka), сери́ф (ru) m (seríf)
• Spanish: gracia (es) f, remate (es) m, serifa (es) f, patín (es) m
• Swedish: seriff (sv) c

Adjective

serif (not comparable)

1. (typography) Of a typeface, provided with serifs.

   Antonym: sans serif

   • 2018, Paul W. Ross, Revival: The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists:

     It is generally believed, by those who study such things, that serif typefaces are easier to read when reading a lot of words. The hickeys (serifs) on each letter tend to push our eye toward the next letter.

Translations

with serifs

• Czech: patkový
• Finnish: päätteellinen
• Hungarian: talpas (hu)

Anagrams

• Fiser, Fries, fiers, fires, fries