zero·style

Dictionary entry

x-height

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The height of the main body of lowercase letters, measured by a letter like x that has no ascender or descender. A large x-height often makes a typeface look bigger and easier to read at small sizes.

Synonyms

None recorded.

Related terms

In plain words

  • how tall the small letters are
  • the height of a lowercase x

Usage example

Fonts with a tall x-height, like Verdana, stay legible even at tiny sizes on screen.

Don't confuse with…

  • cap heightX-height measures lowercase body height; cap height measures the height of capital letters.

Categories

  • Typography

Related-term graph

Two hops from x-height — click a term to open its entry, or re-center the graph on it

Focus term

Directly related

Two hops away

  • Relatedx-height related of ascender
  • Relatedx-height related of baseline
  • Relatedx-height related of cap height
  • Relatedx-height related of descender
  • Relateddescender related of ascender
  • Relatedcap height related of ascender
  • Relateddescender related of baseline
  • Relatedascender related of baseline
  • Relatedcap height related of baseline
  • Relatedbaseline related of baseline grid
  • Relatedascender related of cap height
  • Relatedascender related of descender
  • Relatedbaseline related of descender
  • Relateddescender related of leading
  • Relatedbaseline related of leading
  • Relatedcap height related of small caps
  • Relateddescender related of x-height
  • Relatedascender related of x-height
  • Relatedcap height related of x-height
  • Relatedbaseline related of x-height

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