font

English Online Dictionary. What means font‎? What does font mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɒnt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɑnt/
• Rhymes: -ɒnt

Etymology 1

From Old English font, an early borrowing from Latin fōns, fontis (“fountain”).

Noun

font (plural fonts)

2. (Christianity) A receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism.

   Synonym: stoup

   Hyponym: baptismal font
4. A receptacle for lamp oil in a lamp.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of verb fondre (“to melt”).

Alternative forms

• fount (UK)

Noun

font (plural fonts)

2. (typography) A set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface (e.g., Helvetica), style (e.g., italic), and weight (e.g., bold). Usually representing the letters of an alphabet and its supplementary characters.
   1. In metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.
   2. In phototypesetting, a set of patterns forming glyphs of any size, or the film they are stored on.
   3. In digital typesetting, a set of glyphs in a single style, representing one or more alphabets or writing systems, or the computer code representing it.
4. (originally computing, typography, informal) A typeface.
6. (computing, typography, metonymic) A computer file containing the code used to draw and compose the glyphs of one or more typographic fonts on a computer display or printer.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Thai: ฟอนต์ (fɔ́n)

Translations

Verb

font (third-person singular simple present fonts, present participle fonting, simple past and past participle fonted)

1. (television, colloquial, transitive) To overlay (text) on the picture.

References

• “font” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Bringhurst, Robert (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style, version 2.5, pp 291–2. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. →ISBN.

Etymology 3

Apparently from fount, with influence from the senses above (under etymology 1).

Noun

font (plural fonts)

1. (figuratively) A source, wellspring, fount.
   • 1824 — George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan, canto V

     A gaudy taste; for they are little skill'd in
     The arts of which these lands were once the font

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• font on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• holy water font on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• baptismal font on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin fontem m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfɔn]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfɔnt]

Noun

font f (plural fonts)

1. fountain
2. source (of water)
3. source (origin)
4. (journalism) source
5. (typography) font

Synonyms

(fountain): fontana

Derived terms

• codi font
• codi font obert

Related terms

• fontaner
• fontaneria
• fontinyol

Further reading

• “font” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “font”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “font” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “font” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ̃/, (in liaison) /fɔ̃.t‿/
• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

Verb

font

1. third-person plural present indicative of faire

Friulian

Alternative forms

• fonz

Etymology

From Latin fundus.

Noun

font m (plural fonts)

1. bottom
2. background
3. landed property, farm
4. fund

Related terms

• profont

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfont]
• Hyphenation: font
• Rhymes: -ont

Etymology 1

From German Pfund, from Latin pondo.

Noun

font (plural fontok)

1. pound (weight)
2. pound (currency unit)

   Synonym: font sterling

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English font, from Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of fondre (“to melt”), from Latin fundō (“I melt”).

Noun

font (plural fontok)

1. (typography) digital font (set of glyphs of unified design contained in a computer file)

Declension

Etymology 3

From the verb fon (“to spin [yarn], braid [hair], weave [basket], twist [rope], twine [arms]”) +‎ -t.

Verb

font

1. third-person singular indicative past indefinite of fon

Participle

font

1. past participle of fon

   Synonym: (in certain senses) fonott

Declension

References

Further reading

• (measure of weight; currency): font in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• (past participle of fon: spun, braided, woven, twisted, twined): font in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin fons, via Old Norse fontr (sense 1), and French fonte, via English font (sense 2).

Noun

font m (definite singular fonten, indefinite plural fonter, definite plural fontene)

1. a baptismal font
2. (typography) font, or fount (UK)

References

• “font” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin fons, via Old Norse fontr (sense 1), and French fonte, via English font (sense 2).

Noun

font m (definite singular fonten, indefinite plural fontar, definite plural fontane)

1. a baptismal font
2. (typography) font, or fount (UK)

References

• “font” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Noun

font m

1. Alternative form of fant

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English font, from Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of verb fondre (“to melt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔnt/
• Rhymes: -ɔnt
• Syllabification: font

Noun

font m inan

1. (computing) font (computer file containing the code used to draw and compose the glyphs)

Declension

Further reading

• font in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English font.

Noun

font n (plural fonturi)

1. (typography) font

Declension

Swedish

Noun

font c

1. (typography) a font

Usage notes

• The synonym teckensnitt is considered more correct.

Declension

Synonyms

• teckensnitt