Standard Lemma guide
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
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adj
Of a typeface, provided with serifs.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Topics: media, publishing, typography
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: sans serif
noun
A short line added to the end of a stroke in traditional typefaces, such as Times New Roman.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: media, publishing, typography
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a short line at the end of the main strokes of a character
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: seriph
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: line
History
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.
Across languages
42 source translations are retained for this English entry.
