kern

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈkərn  ˈkern 

variants or kerne

1

: a light-armed foot soldier of medieval Ireland or Scotland

2

: yokel

kern

2 of 3

noun (2)

ˈkərn 

: a part of a typeset letter that projects beyond its side bearings

kern

3 of 3

verb

ˈkərn 

kerned; kerning; kerns

transitive + intransitive

typography

: to adjust or specify the width of the side bearings between certain pairs of adjacent characters in order to improve the appearance and legibility of composed text

manually kerning pairs of letters

a kerned font [=a font that includes kerned letter pairs]

With the spacing set up (accounting for wider letters like M and W) I started kerning. This was a massively painstaking process.

—James Barnard

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English kerne, from Middle Irish cethern band of soldiers

Noun (2)

French carne corner, from French dialect, from Latin cardin-, cardo hinge

Verb

derivative of kern entry 2

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1683, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1986, in the meaning defined above

Geographical Definition

Kern

geographical name

ˈkərn 

river 150 miles (241 kilometers) long in south central California flowing southwest into a reservoir

Biographical Definition

Kern

biographical name

ˈkərn 

Jerome David 1885–1945 American composer