font
English

Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fɒnt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɑnt/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒnt
Etymology 1
From Old English font, an early borrowing from Latin fōns, fontis (“fountain”).
Noun
font (plural fonts)
- (Christianity) A receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism.
- Synonym: stoup
- Hyponym: baptismal font
- 1791, Christopher Smart, “Moderation”, in Hymns for the Amusement of Children:
- Blessed be God, that, at the font, / My sponsors bound me to the call / Of Christ in England to confront / The world, the flesh, the fiend and all.
- 1913, John Bertram Peterson, “Baptismal Font”, in Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2:
- In the Apostolic Age, as in Jewish times (John, iii, 23), baptism was administered without special fonts, at the seaside or in streams or pools of water (Acts, viii, 38); […]
- A receptacle for oil in a lamp.
- (figuratively) Spring, source, fountain.
- 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:
- The Bible lays special stress on the fear of God as the font of wisdom.
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Derived terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Etymology 2
Borrowed from Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of verb fondre (“to melt”).
Alternative forms
- fount (UK)
Noun
font (plural fonts)
- (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.
- In metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.
- In phototypesetting, a set of patterns forming glyphs of any size, or the film they are stored on.
- 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.
- (computing, typography, informal) A typeface.
- (computing, typography) 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
- bitmap font
- clip font
- color font
- font family
- font stack
- font suitcase
- multilingual font
- outline font
- pi font
- printer font
- roman font
- screen font
- Unicode font
- variable font
Descendants
- Thai: ฟอนต์ (fɔ́n)
Translations
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Verb
font (third-person singular simple present fonts, present participle fonting, simple past and past participle fonted)
- (television, colloquial, transitive) To overlay (text) on the picture.
- 1981, William Safire, On language (page 78)
- When figures or quotes are thought helpful to understanding a spot, they're "fonted" over the cover picture.
- 1987, The Foundation Center, Promoting issues & ideas: a guide to public relations for nonprofit organizations (page 97)
- […] character generator instead of an easel card to create letters on camera or telephone numbers that can run across the TV screen. The process is called fonting.
- 1981, William Safire, On language (page 78)
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)
- (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
- A gaudy taste; for they are little skill'd in
- 1910 — Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, part II
- As I am not drawing here on the font of imagination to refresh that of fact and experience, I do not suggest that the Tarot set the example of expressing Secret Doctrine in pictures and that it was followed by Hermetic writers; but it is noticeable that it is perhaps the earliest example of this art.
- 1915 — Woodrow Wilson, Third State of the Union Address
- I am interested to fix your attention on this prospect now because unless you take it within your view and permit the full significance of it to command your thought I cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies at the very font of my whole thought as I address you to-day.
- 1824 — George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan, canto V
Translations
Further reading
font on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
holy water font on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
baptismal font on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin fons, fontem.
Noun
font f (plural fonts)
- fountain
- source (of water)
- source (origin)
- (journalism) source
- (typography) font
Synonyms
(fountain): fontana
Derived terms
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, 2023
- “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‿/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɔ̃
Friulian
Alternative forms
Hungarian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈfont]
- Hyphenation: font
- Rhymes: -ont
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | font | fontok |
| accusative | fontot | fontokat |
| dative | fontnak | fontoknak |
| instrumental | fonttal | fontokkal |
| causal-final | fontért | fontokért |
| translative | fonttá | fontokká |
| terminative | fontig | fontokig |
| essive-formal | fontként | fontokként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | fontban | fontokban |
| superessive | fonton | fontokon |
| adessive | fontnál | fontoknál |
| illative | fontba | fontokba |
| sublative | fontra | fontokra |
| allative | fonthoz | fontokhoz |
| elative | fontból | fontokból |
| delative | fontról | fontokról |
| ablative | fonttól | fontoktól |
| non-attributive possessive - singular |
fonté | fontoké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural |
fontéi | fontokéi |
| Possessive forms of font | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | fontom | fontjaim |
| 2nd person sing. | fontod | fontjaid |
| 3rd person sing. | fontja | fontjai |
| 1st person plural | fontunk | fontjaink |
| 2nd person plural | fontotok | fontjaitok |
| 3rd person plural | fontjuk | fontjaik |
Derived terms
- fontol
- fontos
Etymology 2
Borrowed from English font, from Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of fondre (“to melt”), from Latin fundō (“I melt”).[1]
Noun
font (plural fontok)
- (typography) digital font (set of glyphs of unified design contained in a computer file)
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | font | fontok |
| accusative | fontot | fontokat |
| dative | fontnak | fontoknak |
| instrumental | fonttal | fontokkal |
| causal-final | fontért | fontokért |
| translative | fonttá | fontokká |
| terminative | fontig | fontokig |
| essive-formal | fontként | fontokként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | fontban | fontokban |
| superessive | fonton | fontokon |
| adessive | fontnál | fontoknál |
| illative | fontba | fontokba |
| sublative | fontra | fontokra |
| allative | fonthoz | fontokhoz |
| elative | fontból | fontokból |
| delative | fontról | fontokról |
| ablative | fonttól | fontoktól |
| non-attributive possessive - singular |
fonté | fontoké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural |
fontéi | fontokéi |
| Possessive forms of font | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | fontom | fontjaim |
| 2nd person sing. | fontod | fontjaid |
| 3rd person sing. | fontja | fontjai |
| 1st person plural | fontunk | fontjaink |
| 2nd person plural | fontotok | fontjaitok |
| 3rd person plural | fontjuk | fontjaik |
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -a-, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | font | fontak |
| accusative | fontat | fontakat |
| dative | fontnak | fontaknak |
| instrumental | fonttal | fontakkal |
| causal-final | fontért | fontakért |
| translative | fonttá | fontakká |
| terminative | fontig | fontakig |
| essive-formal | fontként | fontakként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | fontban | fontakban |
| superessive | fonton | fontakon |
| adessive | fontnál | fontaknál |
| illative | fontba | fontakba |
| sublative | fontra | fontakra |
| allative | fonthoz | fontakhoz |
| elative | fontból | fontakból |
| delative | fontról | fontakról |
| ablative | fonttól | fontaktól |
| non-attributive possessive - singular |
fonté | fontaké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural |
fontéi | fontakéi |
References
- Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Latin fons, via Old Norse fontr (sense 1), and French fonte, via English font (sense 2).
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Latin fons, via Old Norse fontr (sense 1), and French fonte, via English font (sense 2).
Polish
Etymology
Borrowed from English font, from Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of verb fondre (“to melt”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fɔnt/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɔnt
- Syllabification: font
Noun
font m inan
Declension
Romanian
Declension
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) font | fontul | (niște) fonturi | fonturile |
| genitive/dative | (unui) font | fontului | (unor) fonturi | fonturilor |
| vocative | fontule | fonturilor | ||
Swedish
Usage notes
- The synonym teckensnitt is considered more correct.
Declension
| Declension of font | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | font | fonten | fonter | fonterna |
| Genitive | fonts | fontens | fonters | fonternas |