x-height

American  

[eks-hahyt] / ˈɛksˌhaɪt /

noun

Typography.

1. the height of a lowercase x.

---

x-height British  

noun

1. printing the height of lower case letters of a typeface, without ascenders or descenders

---

Other Word Forms

• x-high adjective

Etymology

Origin of x-height

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

While it’s common to simply increase the point size to make text easier to read, Mr Stobberup says that readability is actually determined by x-height.

From BBC

The x-height is the height of most lowercase letters in the Latin alphabet, and makes up nearly all of the printed marks on a page.

From BBC

The x-height can be increased without enlarging all of the text.

From BBC

For many designers, increasing the x-height is key to increasing legibility .

From BBC

This has a larger x-height than, for instance, the popular typeface Garamond.

From BBC