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serif

American  
[ser-if] / ˈsɛr ɪf /
especially British, ceriph

noun

Printing.

  1. a smaller line used to finish off a main stroke of a letter, as at the top and bottom of M.

serif British  
/ ˈsɛrɪf /

noun

  1. printing a small line at the extremities of a main stroke in a type character

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of serif

1835–45; perhaps < Dutch schreef line (in writing), akin to schrijven to write

Vocabulary lists containing serif

"Stanford University Commencement Address" by Steve Jobs

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mostly the serif aficionados are put off by the ubiquity of their favorite retro font.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025

Its name is a pun on the sans serif group of typefaces, and the island was depicted as being shaped like a semi-colon.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2025

Frosted windows on doors with the old-school gold sans serif font long used by county departments.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2025

The big divide in the world of typeface is between serif, or letters with small lines or tails attached to their edges, and sans serif, letters without those lines that have a smoother look.

From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2024

“I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great,” he wrote.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.