Fraktur

[ frahk-toor ]

noun

1. Printing. German black-letter text, a style of type.
2. (usually lowercase) Also fractur.
   1. a stylized, highly decorative watercolor or watercolor-and-ink painting in the Pennsylvania-German tradition, often bearing elaborate calligraphy and standardized motifs, as birds, tulips, mermaids, and unicorns, and typically appearing on a book page, baptismal certificate or other family record, or merchant's advertisement.
   2. the elaborate calligraphy used in frakturs.

Fraktur

/ frakˈtuːr /

noun

1. a style of typeface, formerly used in German typesetting for many printed works

Word History and Origins

Origin of Fraktur¹

1900–05, Americanism; < German < Latin frāctūra “action of breaking” (in reference to the curlicues that broke up the continuous line of a word). See fracture

Word History and Origins

Origin of Fraktur¹

German, from Latin fractūra a breaking, fracture ; from the curlicues that seem to interrupt the continuous line of a word

Example Sentences

In these instances, images of the original fraktur appear directly before the occurrence in the text.

From Project Gutenberg

Bold and italicised text appeared in the original in fraktur.

From Project Gutenberg

In the original book, all German text was printed in fraktur (Gothic) type.

From Project Gutenberg