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Kern vs Unkerned - What's the difference?

kern | unkerned |

As a noun kern

is a corn; grain; kernel.

As a verb kern

is 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.

As an adjective unkerned is

not kerned.

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.
  • 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

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Etymology 5

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A churn.
  • References

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    unkerned

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (typography) Not kerned.