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{{Short description|Purposeful written mark}}
{{about|the typographical term|other uses|Glyph (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}

[[File:A-small glyphs.svg|thumb|Various glyphs representing lower case letter {{angbr|a}} in various typefaces and as single- and double-storey; they are [[allograph]]s of the same [[grapheme]]|class=skin-invert-image]]
{{wiktionary|glyph}}
{{Orthography notation}}
A '''glyph''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|l|ɪ|f}} {{respell|GLIF}}) is any kind of purposeful mark. In [[typography]], a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character".<ref>{{cite web |title=Confusing (and Frequently Misused) Type Terminology, Part 1 |work=fonts.com |publisher=Monotype Imaging |url=https://www.fonts.com/aboutfonts/articles/situationaltypography/confusingtypeterms.htm |first=Ilene |last=Strizver |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225024213/https://www.fonts.com/aboutfonts/articles/situationaltypography/confusingtypeterms.htm |archive-date=25 December 2011}}</ref> It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular [[typeface]], of an element of written language. A [[grapheme]], or part of a grapheme (such as a [[diacritic]]), or sometimes several graphemes in combination (a composed glyph){{efn|For example, the [[ampersand]] {{gpm|&}}  began as two letters ({{angbr|e}} and {{angbr|t}}, the Latin word {{lang|la|et}}) that over the centuries became combined into a single unit known as a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]]}} can be represented by a glyph.

== Glyphs, graphemes and characters ==
{{More citations|section|date=September 2021}}
In modern English, symbols like letters and numerical digits are each both single graphemes and single glyphs. In most languages written in any variety of the [[Latin alphabet]] except English,{{efn|ignoring special cases such as personal names and imported words}} the use of [[diacritic]]s to signify a sound mutation is common. For example, the grapheme {{gpm|à}} requires two glyphs: the basic {{gph|a}} and the [[grave accent]] {{gph|`}}. In general, a diacritic is regarded as a glyph,<ref name="Whistler et al" /> even if it is contiguous with the rest of the character like a [[cedilla]] in [[French language|French]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]] or [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], the [[ogonek]] in several languages, or the stroke on a Polish {{gpm|[[Ł]]}}. Although these marks originally had no independent meaning, they have since acquired meaning in the field of mathematics and computing, for instance.

Conversely, in the languages of Western Europe, the dot (formally, ''[[tittle]]'') on a lower-case {{angbr|i}} is not a glyph in itself because it does not convey any distinction, and an {{gph|ı}} in which the dot has been accidentally omitted is still likely to be recognized correctly. However, in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and adjacent languages, this dot is a glyph because that language has two distinct versions of the letter ''i'', [[İ|with]] and [[Dotless I|without a dot]]. 

In Japanese [[syllabaries]], some of the characters are made up of more than one separate mark, but in general these separate marks are not glyphs because they have no meaning by themselves. However, in some cases, additional marks fulfil the role of [[diacritic]]s, to differentiate distinct characters. Such additional marks constitute glyphs. 

Some characters such as {{gph|[[æ]]}} in Icelandic and {{gph|[[ß]]}} in German may be regarded as glyphs. They were originally typographic [[Ligature (writing)|ligatures]], but over time have become characters in their own right; these languages treat them as unique letters. However, a ligature such as {{gph|fi}}, that is treated in some typefaces as a single unit, is arguably not a glyph as this is just a design choice of that typeface, essentially an [[allograph]]ic feature, and includes more than one grapheme.<ref name="Whistler et al" /> In normal handwriting, even long words are often written "joined up", without the pen leaving the paper, and the form of each written letter will often vary depending on which letters precede and follow it, but that does not make the whole word into a single glyph.

Older models of [[typewriter]]s required the use of multiple glyphs to depict a single character, as an overstruck [[apostrophe]] and [[full stop]] to create an [[exclamation mark]]. If there is more than one allograph of a unit of writing, and the choice between them depends on context or on the preference of the author, they now have to be treated as separate glyphs, because mechanical arrangements have to be available to differentiate between them and to print whichever of them is required.

In [[computing]] as well as typography, the term ''[[character (computing)|character]]'' refers to a grapheme or grapheme-like unit of text, as found in [[writing system]]s (''scripts''). In typography and computing, the range of graphemes is broader than in a written language in other ways too: a typeface often has to cope with a range of different languages each of which contribute their own graphemes, and it may also be required to print non-linguistic symbols such as [[dingbat]]s. The range of glyphs required increases correspondingly. In summary, in typography and computing, a glyph is a graphical unit.<ref name="Whistler et al">{{cite web |title=Characters Vs Glyphs |first=Ken |last=Whistler |first2=Mark |last2=Davis |first3=Asmus |last3=Freytag |date=11 November 2008 |url=http://unicode.org/reports/tr17/#CharactersVsGlyphs |publisher=Unicode Consortium}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{Annotated link |Character encoding}}
* {{Annotated link |Complex text layout}}
* {{Annotated link |Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format}}
* {{Annotated link |Hieroglyph}}
* {{slink|International Phonetic Alphabet|Brackets and transcription delimiters}}
* {{Annotated link |Letter cutting}}
* {{Annotated link |Palaeography}}
* {{Annotated link |Punchcutting}}
* {{Annotated link |Sort (typesetting)}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Lexicology}}
{{Typography terms}}

[[Category:Archaeological terminology]]
[[Category:Orthography]]
[[Category:Glyphs| ]]
[[Category:Typography]]