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

Weight:
The thickness or relative amount of blackness of the main strokes of characters. Typical weights are regular, light, medium, demi bold, bold, etc.
Width (Character Width):
The total horizontal space occupied by a character, including its side bearings (the space allocated to the left and right in order to ensure that it does not hit its neighbors when set in text). There are different ways of measuring and defining character widths. See ‘fixed-pitch fonts’ and ‘monospaced fonts’.
Widow:
The last line of a paragraph occurring at the top of a page. Should be avoided. See orphan.
Word space:
Space between words.