serif

American

[ser-if] / ˈsɛr ɪf /

especially British, ceriph

noun

Printing.

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

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.

See Examples For:

serif

It’s on over 16,000 websites and is among the 10% most-popular English serif fonts on Google Fonts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

“Lot of disturbing things happening in the world,” wrote another, “but at least serif fonts are making a comeback.”

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

All of this appeared in Centurion bold type—already antiquated in 1917—with delicate hairlines separating seven columns and subheads in bold serif relief.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

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