plural kernings
Definition of kerning
1
typography
: the act or result of kerning characters
Good kerning can enhance a font's appearance.
2
typography
: the distance between a kerned pair of adjacent characters in a line of composed text
increased the kerning between the f and the period a kerning of +100 Adobe typefaces tend to have between 500 and 1000 kerning pairs. The El Cheapo font that you downloaded for free from the Web may not have any.— Nigel French
broadly
: letterspacing, tracking
Buying Guide
Learn CSS with online courses selected by our Reviews team.
Test Your Vocabulary
Name That Food
-
- Name these cookies!

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
A daily challenge for crossword fanatics.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share kerning
Time Traveler for kerning
The first known use of kerning was in 1980
See more words from the same year