Font Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X

Ear:
The stroke attached to the bowl of the lowercase g. Some typographers use the same term for the top of the stem of the lowercase r (and for other similar strokes).
Egyptian, Egyptienne:
Style of typeface characterized by strokes with almost uniform thickness and square/rectangual serifs, or slab serifs.
Elevated Cap:
A large initial capital that sits on the baseline of the first line of text. Usually indicates the start of a section.
Em:
A relative unit of usually horizontal measurement equal to the - character of the type size currently in use. For example, an em in 12-point type is equal to 12 points. Originally derived from the width of the upper-case M. Also called ‘mutton’ or “quad”.
En:
A relative unit of usually horizontal measurement equal to half of one em. Also called ‘nut’.
Expanded Type:
Like “extended type“ but generally used to refer to electronically modified typeface versions.
Expert font:
Expanded font with additional characters for specialized applications in PostScript and TrueType formats. An expert font contains characters like true small caps, ligatures, fractions and exponents as well as other special characters. OpenType has no need for Expert fonts, because the expanded character set can be integrated into the normal font, if applicable.
Extended Type:
Typeface with wider body relative to its height.
Extenders:
The parts of letterforms that extend above the x-height (ascenders) or below the baseline (descenders), as in b and p.
Eye:
See bowl.