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What is the difference between alphabet and font?

alphabet | font |

As nouns the difference between alphabet and font

is that alphabet is the set of letters used when writing in a language while font is a receptacle in a church for holy water - especially one used in baptism or font can be (typography) a set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface (eg, helvetica), style (eg, italic), and weight (eg, bold) usually representing the letters of an alphabet and its supplementary characters or font can be (figuratively) a source, wellspring, fount.

As a verb alphabet

is to designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.

alphabet

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The set of letters used when writing in a language.
    • The Greek alphabet has only twenty-four letters.
    In the first year of school, pupils are taught to recite the alphabet .
  • A writing system in which letters represent phonemes.
  • # A true alphabet, a writing system in which there are letters for the consonant and'' vowel phonemes.
  • (computer science) A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols.
    • Let L be a regular language over the alphabet \Sigma .
  • (India) An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character.
  • * 2002 , Eugene E. Dike, African myth of creation in African form of writing , Monsenstein und Vannerdat, ISBN 3936600406, page 30:
    • We realize the fact that the alphabet A has been used in many world scripts as a vowel with the others AEIOU.
  • * 2005 , Satinder Bal Gupta, Comprehensive Discrete Mathematics & Structures , Laxmi Publications, page 237:
    • There are 26 alphabets in English.
  • The simplest rudiments; elements.
  • * Macaulay
    • The very alphabet of our law.

    Derived terms

    () * alphabetic, alphabetical * alphabetize * alphabet soup * alphanumeric, alphanumerical * Cyrillic alphabet * Greek alphabet * Latin alphabet * Phoenician alphabet * phonetic alphabet * Roman alphabet * Russian alphabet * Ukrainian alphabet

    Synonyms

    * , absey

    See also

    * abjad * abugida * script * syllabary * writing system *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.

    • External links

    * (wikipedia) ----

    font

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) font, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A receptacle in a church for holy water - especially one used in baptism
  • A receptacle for oil in a lamp.
  • (figuratively) spring, source, fountain
  • * 1919 , :
    • The Bible lays special stress on the fear of God as the font of wisdom.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fonte, feminine past participle of verb .

    Alternative forms

    * fount (UK)

    Noun

    (wikipedia font) (en noun)
  • (typography) A set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface (e.g., Helvetica), style (e.g., italic), and weight (e.g., bold). Usually representing the letters of an alphabet and its supplementary characters.
  • # In metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.
  • # In phototypesetting, a set of patterns forming glyphs of any size, or the film they are stored on.
  • # In digital typesetting, a set of glyphs in a single style, representing one or more alphabets or writing systems, or the computer code representing it.
  • (computing) A computer file containing the code used to draw and compose the glyphs of one or more typographic fonts on a computer display or printer. A font file.
    • Derived terms
    * font family * multilingual font * Unicode font * bitmap font * screen font * outline font * printer font * font suitcase * roman font

    References

    * * Bringhurst, Robert (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style, version 2.5 , pp 291–2. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. ISBN 0-88179-133-4.

    Etymology 3

    Apparently from (fount), with influence from the senses above (under etymology 1).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (figuratively) A source, wellspring, fount.
  • * 1824 — , canto V
    • A gaudy taste; for they are little skill'd in
    The arts of which these lands were once the font
  • * 1910 — , part II
    • As I am not drawing here on the font of imagination to refresh that of fact and experience, I do not suggest that the Tarot set the example of expressing Secret Doctrine in pictures and that it was followed by Hermetic writers; but it is noticeable that it is perhaps the earliest example of this art.
  • * 1915 —
    • I am interested to fix your attention on this prospect now because unless you take it within your view and permit the full significance of it to command your thought I cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies at the very font of my whole thought as I address you to-day.