Today, when we talk about fonts, we are actually referring to the typeface we choose to use for our text. Historically, the term “font” encompassed not only the typeface itself but also the specific size, italics, and other variations within that typeface. This concept dates back to the era of the printing press, where a font was a collection of printing blocks carved out in a particular height, width, and style. The term “font” as we know it today originated in the 1660s and is derived from the idea of “cast iron”, as the printing blocks had to be crafted from cast metals. This etymology can be traced back through French to the Latin verb “fondre”, meaning “to melt”, which refers to the process of melting metals for casting. Ultimately, this word stems from the Proto-Indo-European root “gheue”, which means “to pour”.
