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Icon vs Font - What's the difference?

icon | font |

As a noun icon

is an image, symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion.

As a verb font is

.

icon

English

(wikipedia icon)

Alternative forms

* eikon, ikon

Noun

(en noun)
  • An image, symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion.
  • A religious painting, often done on wooden panels.
  • A person or thing that is the best example of a certain profession or some doing.
  • That man is an icon in the business; he personifies loyalty and good business sense.
  • A small picture which represents something (such as an icon on a computer screen which when clicked performs some function.)
  • (linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form reflects and is determined by the referent; onomatopoeic words are necessarily all icons. See also (symbol) and (index).
  • Pictual representations of files, programs and folders on a computer.
  • Derived terms

    * aniconic, aniconism * iconism

    Anagrams

    * * * ----

    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.