A letterform, letter-form or letter form, is a term used especially in typography, paleography, calligraphy and epigraphy to mean a letter's shape. A letter is an element of a writing system. ...

In one sense letterform applies strictly to the design of individual letters. In typography, "letterforms" is often used to describe the study and design of indiviudual letters while typography applies to the design and use with letterforms. As such, "letterform" applies not only to letters but to any graphic elements of a script, typeface or font (including numbers, symbols and punctuation).

In another sense letterform applies to the individual shapes of letters that gives a text an aesthetic. In this way, medieval scholars, for instance, may discuss the particular features of a script that give it distinction and definition among other scripts. [1]

Depending on context, similar terms are sometimes used interchangeably - especially character but also sign, glyph and grapheme. These are the astrological glyphs as most commonly used in Western Astrology A glyph is a carved figure or character, incised or in relief; a carved pictograph; hence, a pictograph representing a form originally adopted for sculpture, whether carved or painted. ... A grapheme designates the atomic unit in written language. ...

The history of letterforms is discussed in fields of study relating to materials used in writing. Epigraphy includes the study of letterforms carved in stone or other permanent materials. Paleography is the study of writing in ancient and medieval manuscripts. Calligraphy treats the letterforms of decorative writing, usually in ink. Typography includes the arrangement of letterforms designed for metal print or computer. More broadly letterforms may be discussed wherever letters appear stylistically - in graffiti for example. Epigraphy (Greek, επιγραφή - written upon) is the study of inscriptions engraved into stone or other permanent materials, or cast in metal, the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them. ... Palaeography, literally old writing, (from the Greek words paleos = old and grapho = write) is the study of script. ... Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of AD 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ... Typographic work Typography (from the Greek words typos = form and graphein = to write) is the art and technique of setting written subject matter in type using a combination of typeface styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing to produce typeset artwork in physical or digital... For the handwriting system, see Graffiti (Palm OS). ...

References in related articles

• Letterforms in alphabets: Arabic alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet

• Letterforms in calligraphy: Manyogana, Hentaigana

• Letterforms in history: Long s, Half r

• Letterforms in technology: Typeface, Computer printer

The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing in the Arabic language. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... Manyōgana (万葉仮名) is an ancient form of Japanese kana based on kanji (Chinese characters). ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 Hentaigana (変体仮名) are alternative kana letterforms equivalent to standard kana characters. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Between the middle ages and today, many ways of writing alphabetical characters were lost. ... In typography, a typeface consists of a co-ordinated set of grapheme (i. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

References in external articles

• Letterforms in design: Is Gotham the New Interstate