Unicode Font Glossary
Definition: This glossary explains the Unicode terms behind fancy text generators in plain English, from code point and combining character to Fraktur, Blackletter, and Zalgo text.
18 terms, alphabetically, with the exact Unicode block each one comes from. No jargon left unexplained.
- Blackletter script family
- An umbrella term for a family of ornate medieval European scripts, including Fraktur, Textualis, Rotunda, and Schwabacher, used in printing from the 12th through the 20th centuries, especially in German-language books until the mid-1900s.
- Code point U+XXXX
- The unique number the Unicode standard assigns to a single character, written in hexadecimal as U+XXXX. Capital letter A, for example, is U+0041. Every fancy text character has its own distinct code point.
- Combining character U+0300–U+036F
- A Unicode character with no width of its own that attaches to the character before it and modifies its appearance, such as adding a strikethrough line or an accent mark. This is what makes strikethrough text and Zalgo text possible.
- Double-struck U+1D538–U+1D56B
- A hollow-outline letter style (𝔸𝔹ℂ), also called blackboard bold, from the Mathematical Alphanumeric block. Traditionally used in math notation for number sets, such as the real numbers ℝ and the integers ℤ.
- Enclosed alphanumerics U+2460–U+24FF
- A Unicode block containing circled letters and numbers (Ⓐ Ⓑ Ⓒ). This is the source of the copy-paste style commonly called bubble text.
- Fraktur U+1D504–U+1D537
- A specific Blackletter typeface style most associated with German printing from the 16th century onward. Unicode's Mathematical Fraktur block is modeled on this style. Fraktur is one style within Blackletter, not a synonym for it, see Blackletter above.
- Fullwidth forms U+FF00–U+FFEF
- A Unicode block originally created so Latin characters could align to the same grid width as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters. Fancy text generators repurpose it for wide-spaced aesthetic text (Ｖａｐｏｒｗａｖｅ).
- Grapheme
- The smallest visually distinguishable unit of writing. A single grapheme, such as an accented letter, may be made of more than one Unicode code point combined together.
- IPA Extensions U+0250–U+02AF
- A Unicode block built for the International Phonetic Alphabet. It contains rotated and turned letters (ɐ, ǝ, ɥ) that fancy text generators repurpose to create upside-down text.
- Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols U+1D400–U+1D7FF
- The primary Unicode block fancy text generators draw from. It contains 996 characters covering bold, italic, script, Fraktur, double-struck, sans-serif, and monospace styles of the Latin and Greek alphabets. See the full breakdown of this block.
- Phonetic Extensions U+1D00–U+1D7F
- A Unicode block containing small capital letters (ᴀ ʙ ᴄ) used by linguists for transcription. It is the source of the copy-paste style commonly called small caps.
- Script style U+1D49C–U+1D4CF
- A handwriting-like Unicode letter style (𝒜ℬ𝒞) from the Mathematical Alphanumeric block, distinct from a true cursive font. It is a fixed set of individual characters rather than a rendered font, so it looks the same on every device.
- Small caps
- Capital letters set at roughly the height of lowercase letters. On the web this comes either from a true font's built-in small-caps feature, or from Unicode Phonetic Extensions characters for text that needs to copy and paste as plain text.
- Superscript
- Small characters raised above the normal text baseline (ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ), such as in a footnote marker or an exponent. Unicode support is incomplete: only some letters and digits have a dedicated superscript code point.
- Unicode
- The international standard that assigns a unique code point to every character in every writing system, maintained by the Unicode Consortium. The current standard defines more than 149,000 characters across 161 scripts.
- Unicode block
- A contiguous range of code points that the Unicode Consortium groups together for a related set of characters, such as the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block.
- Zalgo text U+0300–U+036F
- Decorative glitched or corrupted-looking text created by stacking many combining diacritical marks above and below normal characters.
- Zero-width character U+200B
- A Unicode character with no visible glyph and no width, such as the zero-width space. Sometimes used to bypass character-limit filters or to create an apparently empty message.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Fraktur and Blackletter?
Blackletter is the umbrella category covering several ornate medieval European scripts, including Fraktur, Textualis, Rotunda, and Schwabacher. Fraktur is one specific style within that category, the one most associated with German printing from the 16th century onward. Unicode's Mathematical Fraktur block is named after and modeled on this specific style, not on Blackletter as a whole.
What is a Unicode code point?
A code point is the unique number the Unicode standard assigns to a single character, written in hexadecimal as U+XXXX. Capital letter A is U+0041. Every character used by a fancy text generator, from bold letters to circled numbers, has its own distinct code point.
What is a combining character in Unicode?
A combining character is a Unicode character with no width of its own that attaches to the character immediately before it and changes its appearance, for example adding a strikethrough line or an accent. Combining characters are what make effects like strikethrough text and Zalgo text possible.