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Glite Dictionary
⛰️ A person going down 🔤 Part below line
descender

descender

1 7.7
The part of a small letter that goes below the line other letters sit on
  • noun
  • /dɪˈsɛndər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : descenso
  • When designing fonts, understanding how descenders like those in the letters 'j' and 'q' work is essential for balanced spacing.

Examples

  • The alternate style can include letters with descenders that are shorter (or longer) than the Roman style, or include and exclude ligatures.

    Blog text (27)

  • Changed hhea.Ascender and hhea.Descender values as a result of the OS/2 usWin changes.

    Blog text (23)

  • That the glyphs have apparently been moved up in this display will most likely be the result of how the metrics are set up, specifically the ascender and descender measurements relative to the overall size of the glyph.

    Blog text (27)

  • From your screenshot, the descender is currently set to -300, and the glyph itself seems to reach a height of 1000, which in a font with a UPM of 1000 would be 300 more than the standard ascender height (which should equal 1000).

    Blog text (27)

  • In typography, the letter 'g' is a common example of a lowercase letter with a descender that extends below the baseline.

  • The term descender refers to the part of letters like 'y' that hangs below the line where other letters sit.

Surface Forms

descender singular
descenders plural

Morphology

descender = descend (transparent) = descend + er

Typographic sense names the part that 'descends' below the baseline; formation from 'descend' + '-er' is semantically regular though technical.

Etymology

Descender In writing the word descender comes from descend and de- 'down', so it names the part of a small letter that 'goes down' below the line. Think of the tail of 'g', 'y', or 'p' dropping below the other letters, which is why we call that part a descender.