kern - What does it mean?
'kern' hits on the web
You may have been searching for a specific social media @kern profile or the tag #kern
Definition of 'kern'English
Etymology 1
A variant of corn, see (etyl) kern, (etyl) kerno, cherno, (etyl) kerne, kern, (etyl) ; see also kernel.
Noun
(obsolete|or|dialect) A corn; grain; kernel.
Related terms
* kernel
Etymology 2
(kerning)
From (etyl) [ ]"kern" at Etymonline or from Etymology 1. The verb is a back-formation from (kerned), which is from the noun.
Alternative forms
* kerne
Noun
( en-noun)
any part of a letter which extends into the space used by another letter.
* 1856 , , Odd Fellows' Literary Casket , Volumes 6-7, page 360 ,
- A few types have a portion of the face letter projecting over the body, as in the letter f ; this projection is called the kern', and in combination with other letters the projecting part generally extends over the next letter, as in fe. In those combinations, wherein the ' kern would come in contact with another letter, compound types are cast, as in the case of ff, fi, fl, ffi, ffl.
Verb
( en-verb)
To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters (characters or glyphs); to perform such adjustments to a portion of text, according to preset rules.
* 2001 , Constance J. Sidles, Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and PrePress Handbook , page 51 ,
- If you need to kern anything beyond the most commonly used pairs, you can use applications software such as Adobe PageMaker to customize pairs.
* 2001 , Bill Camarda, Special Edition Using Microsoft Word 2002 , page 122 ,
- Especially consider kerning if you are printing on a relatively high-resolution printer, such as a 600-dpi (dots per inch) laser printer.
* 2006 , Tova Rabinowitz, Exploring Typography , page 320 ,
- Remember, the goal of kerning is to make letter pairs look natural, not necessarily to minimize letterspaces.
* 2008 , Terry Rydberg, Exploring Adobe InDesign CS4 , page 98 ,
- You should kern letter pairs when spacing between characters is too wide or too narrow.
Derived terms
* kern pair
Etymology 3
From (etyl) ceithern.
Alternative forms
* kerne
Noun
( en-noun)
A light-armed foot soldier of the ancient militia of Ireland and Scotland; in archaic contexts often used as a term of contempt .
* , Act 3, Scene 7,
- O then belike she was old and gentle; and you rode like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off and in your strait strossers.
* 1908 , ,
- There he entertained Shan O'Neil, a famous, turbulent chief from Ireland, who late in this year visited Elizabeth's Court, where his train of kerns and gallowglasses, clothed in linen kilts dyed with saffron, made a great impression.
(obsolete) A boor; a low person.
- (Blount)
(obsolete|UK|legal) An idler; a vagabond.
- (Wharton)
Etymology 4
Etymology 5
References
----
|