x-height

American

[eks-hahyt] / ˈɛksˌhaɪt /

noun

Typography.

the height of a lowercase x.

x-height British

noun

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

"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

Other Word Forms

x-high adjective

Etymology

Origin of x-height

First recorded in 1945–50

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.

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

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2024

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 • Sep. 16, 2024

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

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2024

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 • Sep. 16, 2024

Their low x-height and fastidiously detailed strokes make for what many find a pleasant print-reading experience, but these features make them less legible on screens compared with their more uniform sans-serif compatriots.

From New York Times • Feb. 1, 2022

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