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• kern
  kern

  verb (used with object)

  to remove a portion of space between (adjacent letters) in preparation for printing.
• Kern
  Kern

  noun

  Jerome (David), 1885–1945, U.S. composer.

kern

¹ American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

verb (used with object)

1. to remove a portion of space between (adjacent letters) in preparation for printing.

2. to form or furnish with a kern, as a type or letter.

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noun

1. a part of the face of a type projecting beyond the body or shank, as in certain italic letters.

kern ² American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

noun

Engineering.

1. the central area of any horizontal section of a wall, column, etc., within which the resultant forces of all compressive loads must pass if there is to be only compression at that point.

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kern ³ American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

Or kerne

noun

Archaic.

1. a band of lightly armed foot soldiers of ancient Ireland.

2. (in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) a soldier.

3. an Irish peasant, especially a crude or boorish one.

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kern ⁴ American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

verb (used without object)

1. (of a tree or plant) to produce or form kernels, hard grain, or seed.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to granulate, especially to granulate salt.

2. to cover with crystalline grains of salt; salt (meat).

noun

1. Obsolete. a kernel, as of a nut; a grain, as of sand or wheat.

kern ⁵ American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

verb (used with or without object)

Scotland and North England.

1. churn.

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kern ⁶ American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

noun

Scotland and North England.

1. kirn.

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Kern ⁷ American  

[kurn] / kɜrn /

noun

1. Jerome (David), 1885–1945, U.S. composer.

2. a river in E California, in the Sierra Nevada, flowing S and SW to San Joaquin Valley. 155 miles (249 km) long.

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kern ¹ British  

/ kɜːn /

noun

1. a lightly armed foot soldier in medieval Ireland or Scotland

2. a troop of such soldiers

3. archaic a loutish peasant

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kern ² British  

/ kɜːn /

noun

1. the part of the character on a piece of printer's type that projects beyond the body

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verb

1. (tr) to furnish (a typeface) with a kern

Kern ³ British  

/ kɜːn /

noun

1. Jerome ( David ). 1885–1945, US composer of musical comedies, esp Show Boat (1927)

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kern ⁴ British  

/ kɜːn /

noun

1. engineering the central area of a wall, column, etc, through which all compressive forces pass

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Etymology

Origin of kern¹

First recorded in 1675–85; from French carne “corner of type, nib of a quill pen,” ultimately from Latin cardin- (stem of cardō ) “hinge”

Origin of kern²

From German Kern kernel; see kern ⁴

Origin of kern³

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English kerne, kaerne, from Irish ceithern “band of foot soldiers”; see also cateran

Origin of kern⁴

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English verb kirnen, kerne, keorne, kurne; akin to kirnelen “to develop or grow into seed”; see kernel

Explanation

In old-fashioned printing, a kern is the part of metal type that extends beyond the letter's block of type, like the tail of an f or a j. The verb kern comes from the noun. When you move a metal piece of type closer to or farther from its neighbor, you kern. This aesthetic adjustment between the printed letters of a word is very important to designers and typographers, and it's known as kerning. Kern comes from the French carne, "projecting angle," from the Latin root cardinem, or "hinge."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kern Kern

He put me to work setting type by hand, and taught me how to eyeball the space so the letters would barely kiss, creating the perfect kern.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2022

Ronald kern, Marlborough Connecticut, usa Loss of habitat and biodiversity is probably going to be the end of the world.

From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2010

These are not illuminating; but "obsolete variant of kern" leads directly to "corn," and to "kernel," of which "cornel" is a disused form.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hector was a little, red-haired kern of the Campbell clan, who was caught by Colkitto's men skulking in the wood, and dragged with pinioned arms before the son of that bandit.

From Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Daniel Turner Holmes

All I saw was the sowing of the seed in very stony ground, where not one kern out of a thousand is like to germinate and much less to grow.

From Regeneration by Henry Rider Haggard

By extension, these kinds of directives are a way of messaging that a woman’s place is in the home, according to Leslie Kern, author of “The Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World.”

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

Authorities said an investigation was launched after the Kern County medical examiner’s office notified L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Areas of San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo and Tulare counties are under a red flag warning until 11 p.m.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Hammerstein, the musical’s lyricist, conceived the song with the great black baritone Paul Robeson in mind, and constructed it himself using music that Kern had already composed for the production.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Showboat of 1927 was a turning point in this respect, demonstrating what a well-written, clearly structured musical with a thought-provoking plot could be.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall