Phrase guide

sans serif

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˌsæn(z)ˈsɛɹɪf/
  • UK: /ˌsɑ̃ ˈsɛɹɪf/
  • US: /ˌsæn(z)ˈsɛɹɪf/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of a typeface, without serifs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: media, publishing, typography

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: serifless, nonserif

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A typeface in which the characters do not have serifs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: media, publishing, typography

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: serif

3

noun

Meaning 3

a typeface in which characters have no serifs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Helvetica

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: font, fount, typeface, face, case

History

Etymology

From sans + serif.

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Assamese: অনাচেৰিফ (onaseriph) — without serifs
  • Assamese: অনা-চেৰিফ (ona-seriph) — without serifs
  • Catalan: pal sec — without serifs
  • Chinese Mandarin: 無襯線字體 /无衬线字体 (wú chènxiàn zìtǐ) — without serifs
  • Chinese Mandarin: 黑體 /黑体 (hēitǐ) — without serifs
  • Czech: bezpatkový — without serifs
  • Dutch: schreefloos — without serifs
  • Finnish: päätteetön — without serifs
  • Finnish: sans-serif — without serifs
  • Finnish: groteski — without serifs
  • French: linéal — without serifs
  • German: serifenlos — without serifs
  • Hebrew: סנס–סריף (sans-sérif) — without serifs
  • Hebrew: ללא תגים (l'ló tagím) — without serifs
  • Hungarian: talpatlan — without serifs
  • Hungarian: groteszk — without serifs
  • Indonesian: sans serif — without serifs
  • Japanese: サンセリフ (sanserifu) — without serifs
  • Korean: 산세리프 (sanseripeu) — without serifs
  • Macedonian: бессе́рифен (bessérifen) — without serifs
  • Polish: bezszeryfowy — without serifs
  • Portuguese: sem serifa — without serifs
  • Russian: без засе́чек (bez zaséček) — without serifs
  • Spanish: palo seco — without serifs
  • Spanish: paloseco — without serifs
  • Spanish: sin serifas — without serifs
  • Spanish: sin serifa — without serifs
  • Tibetan: སྤྲོས་མེད (spros med) — without serifs