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/, /səˈɹif/
Audio (southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛɹɪf, -if

Noun

serif (plural serifs)

(typography) A short line added to the end of a stroke in traditional typefaces, such as Times New Roman.

Translations

short line in a font

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: 襯線／衬线 (zh) (chènxiàn)
Dutch: schreef (nl)
Finnish: pääteviiva (fi)
French: empattement (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)
Italian: grazia (it) f
Japanese: セリフ (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)

(typography) Of a typeface, provided with serifs.
Antonym: sans serif

Translations

with serifs

Finnish: päätteellinen
Hungarian: talpas (hu)

Anagrams

Fiser, Fries, fiers, fires, fries