Sans Serif

In typography, a sans-serif or sans serif typeface is one that does not have the small features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans (meaning "without"), so the term literally means "without serifs.

In print, sans-serif fonts are more typically used for headlines than for body text. The conventional wisdom is that serifs help guide the eye along the lines in large blocks of text. Sans-serifs however have acquired considerable acceptance for body text in Europe.

Sans-serif fonts have become the de facto standard for body text on-screen, especially online. This is because electronic screens (computer monitor or otherwise) provide a cleaner and more legible rendering of sans-serif fonts than they do for serif fonts.

Before the term “sans-serif” became standard in English typography, a number of other terms had been used. One of these outmoded terms for sans serif is gothic, which is still used in Japanese typography and sometimes seen in font names like “New Century Gothic”.

Sans-serif fonts are sometimes, especially in older books, used as a device for emphasis, due to their typically blacker type color.

In mathematical typesetting, it is conventional to denote matrices with sans-serif fonts.