Fonts originally consisted of a set of moveable type letterpunches purchased from a type foundry. As early as 1600, the sizes of these types—their "bodies"[1]—acquired traditional names in English, French, German, and Dutch, usually from their principal early uses.[2] These names were used relative to the others and their exact length would vary over time, from country to country, and from foundry to foundry. For example, "agate" and "ruby" used to be a single size "agate ruby" of about 5 points;[2] metal type known as "agate" later ranged from 5 to 5.8 points. The sizes were gradually standardized as described above.[3] Modern Chinese typography uses the following names in general preference to stating the number of points. In ambiguous contexts, the word hào (t號, s号, lit. "number") is added to the end of the size name to clarify the meaning.
Note that the Chinese font sizes use American points; the Continental systems traditionally used the Fournier or Didot points. The Fournier points, being smaller than Didot's, were associated with the names of the Didot type closest in size rather than identical in number of points.[citation needed]
^The existence of such small bodies was only notional in the age of metal type.[7]
^Note that the American name for 3-point type was initially "Brilliant"[4] and the English name was initially "Excelsior".[2] The American "Excelsior", meanwhile, was originally 4-point type.[4][11] The situation subsequently changed.
^ abcdePasko, Wesley Washington, ed. (1894), American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking, Containing a History of These Arts in Europe and America, with Definitions of Technical Terms and Biographical Sketches, New York: Howard Lockwood & Co., p. 522.
^Bauer, Friedrich (1929), Die Normung der Buchdrucklettern: Schrifthöhe, Schriftkegel, und Schriftlinie in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwichlung, Leipzig: Deutscher Buchgewerbeverein, p. 64. (in German)
^ abDe Vinne, Theodore Low (1900), The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on the Processes of Type-Making, the Point System, the Names, Sizes, Styles, and Prices of Plain Printing Types, New York: The Century Co., p. 68.
^ ab"minikin, n.¹ and adj.¹", Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
^"excelsior, n."'", Oxford English Dictionary (1st ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1894.
^Reed, Talbot Baines (1887). A History of the Old English Letter-Foundries. London. pp. 38–39.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)