kern
kerns; kerning
In old-fashioned printing, a kern is the part of metal type that extends beyond the letter's block of type, like the tail of an f or a j.
The verb kern comes from the noun. When you move a metal piece of type closer to or farther from its neighbor, you kern. This aesthetic adjustment between the printed letters of a word is very important to designers and typographers, and it's known as kerning. Kern comes from the French carne, "projecting angle," from the Latin root cardinem, or "hinge."
Definitions of kern
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the part of a metal typeface that projects beyond its body
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type of:
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type
a small metal block bearing a raised character on one end; produces a printed character when inked and pressed on paper
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type
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furnish with a kern
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remove a portion of space between (adjacent letters)
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type of:
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get rid of, remove
dispose of
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get rid of, remove
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘kern'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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