typeface

Etymology

It is formed from English type + face, from the printing sense of the first word.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The top of a piece of printing type: 1852, also spelled type-face, according to Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The compound first named the part of a piece of metal type that prints, and also the mark that part leaves on the page.^[2][4][5] The OED's first record, from 1887 in T. B. Reed's History of Old English Letter Foundries, already has the sense of a set of type of one design,^[6] while Merriam-Webster gives the same year for the printing face of type.^[4][7] Dictionary.com dates the word later, to 1900–05.^[3] In common modern use it is treated as a synonym of font.^[2]

Timeline

• 1852 – type-face, the top of a piece of type.^[2]
• 1887 – a set of printing type of one design.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A set of type or characters of one design, in whatever size: The magazine switched to a narrower typeface for its headlines.^[4][6][5][1]
2. The surface of a piece of type that takes the ink, or the impression it makes.^[4][5][1]

Related words

• font
• fount

Usage notes

Etymonline records a technical distinction: the typeface is the set of characters of one design, and the font is the physical or electronic means of producing them.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster