kerning

English

kerning

Etymology

From kern (“part of a letter which extends into the space used by another letter”) +‎ -ing, from French carne (“corner”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɝnɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɜːnɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nɪŋ

Noun

kerning (countable and uncountable, plural kernings)

1. (typography) The adjustment of the horizontal space between selected pairs of glyphs in a typeface.

Usage notes

Kerning and tracking are sometimes confused; the latter refers to the uniform adjustment of letterspacing for a whole unit of text, while kerning relates to the spacing between two individual glyphs.

Related terms

• tracking

Translations

adjustment of the horizontal space between selected pairs of glyphs

• Catalan: interlletratge
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 字偶距調節／字偶距调节 (zì'ǒujù tiáojié)

• Dutch: overhang (nl)
• Finnish: parivälistys, kirjainparivälistys, välistys (fi)
• French: crénage (fr) m
• German: Unterschneidung f
• Hungarian: egalizálás, alávágás, betűköz-igazítás
• Irish: coirneáil f
• Italian: crenatura (it) f
• Maori: whakatata pū
• Portuguese: entreletra compensada f, compensação (pt) f, espaçamento entreletras compensado m, espacejamento entreletras compensado m, kerning m
• Spanish: cranaje, interletraje, cran m

Verb

kerning

1. present participle and gerund of kern

Further reading

• kerning on Wikipedia.Wikipedia