Meanings
plural serifs
- mediaA short line added to the end of a stroke in traditional typefaces, such as Times New Roman.
It is generally believed, by those who study such things, that serif typefaces are easier to read when reading a lot of words. The hickeys (serifs) on each letter tend to push our eye toward the next letter.
2018, Paul W. Ross, Revival: The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists
- not comparablemediaOf a typeface, provided with serifs.
It is generally believed, by those who study such things, that serif typefaces are easier to read when reading a lot of words. The hickeys (serifs) on each letter tend to push our eye toward the next letter.
2018, Paul W. Ross, Revival: The Handbook of Software for Engineers and ScientistsAntonyms: sans serif
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf a typeface, provided with serifs.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From earlier ceriph, seriph, surryph, of obscure derivation. There are two (not directly interrelated) candidates for a possible Dutch origin: 1.) the noun schreef (“stroke”, now also “serif” as a semantic loan), related with schrapen (“to scrape”); and 2.) the verb schrafferen (“to provide with horizontal lines, to shade”), from Italian sgraffiare. For the latter, compare German Schraffe (“serif”), although this again may be a semantic loan based on the English word rather than original to it. Alternatively, from Late Latin cerificus (“waxen”), from Latin cera (“wax”), after the ruled lines used in writing on wax tablets.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مذيل, سيرف
- مذيل (muḏayaail)short line in a font
- سيرف (sīrif)short line in a font
Chinese Mandarin 襯線 /衬线
- 襯線 /衬线 (chènxiàn)short line in a font
Czech serif, patka
- serifshort line in a font
- patkashort line in a font
- patkovýwith serifs
Dutch schreef, schravering
- schreefshort line in a font
- schraveringshort line in a font
Finnish pääteviiva, päätteellinen
- pääteviivashort line in a font
- päätteellinenwith serifs
French empattement, sérif
- empattementshort line in a font
- sérifshort line in a font
German Serife
- Serifeshort line in a font
Greek ακρεμόνας, πατούρα
- ακρεμόνας (akremónas)short line in a font
- πατούρα (patoúra)short line in a font
Hebrew תָּג
- תָּג (tag)short line in a font
Hungarian betűtalp, talpas
- betűtalpshort line in a font
- talpaswith serifs
Irish seiríf, trasnán
- seirífshort line in a font
- trasnánshort line in a font
- trasmhírshort line in a font
Italian grazia
- graziashort line in a font
Japanese セリフ
- セリフ (serifu)short line in a font
Korean 세리프
- 세리프 (seripeu)short line in a font
Lithuanian užkardėlė
- užkardėlėshort line in a font
Norwegian serif
- serifshort line in a font
Polish szeryf, szeryfowy
- szeryfshort line in a font
- szeryfowywith serifs
Portuguese serifa
- serifashort line in a font
Russian засе́чка, подсе́чка
- засе́чка (zaséčka)short line in a font
- подсе́чка (podséčka)short line in a font
- отсе́чка (otséčka)short line in a font
- сери́ф (seríf)short line in a font
Spanish gracia, remate
- graciashort line in a font
- remateshort line in a font
- serifashort line in a font
- patínshort line in a font
- terminalshort line in a font
- con serifaswith serifs
- con serifawith serifs
Swedish seriff
- seriffshort line in a font
Ukrainian зарубка
- зарубка (zarubka)short line in a font
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with serif
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
serif. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serif
“serif.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serif. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “serif,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serif.
Source: serif on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.