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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

The kern or cateran of the Highlands was a light-armed infantryman, as opposed to the heavy-armed "gallowglass."

From Lady of the Lake by William Vaughn Moody

O haste thee, and from Allan learn If thou mayst trust yon wily kern.'

From The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott

The person traversed the state on trains and thruway buses with transfers in six counties: Alameda, Butte, Kern, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Joaquin, the California Department of Public Health said in a news release.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

Behind the song stood Jerome Kern, a founding architect of the American musical, and Dorothy Fields, one of the few women to prosper in the era’s fiercely competitive songwriting business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Ninety years on, Kern and Fields’s achievement is still doing what they built it to do—turning a single radiant evening into a refuge against a colder day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

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

I also hear the woman explain that the Jamison Children's Center was established by Kern County "to provide children who need emergency shelter and protection a safe, warm, and nurturing environment."

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan