United States composer of musical comedies (1885-1945)
"The audience cheered loudly as Kern took his bow at the end of the show."
the part of a metal type that projects beyond its body
"The designer adjusted the kerning to ensure the projecting parts of the metal type aligned perfectly across the line."
A corn; grain; kernel.
"The old farmer used a wooden kern to churn butter from fresh cream."
Any part of a letter which extends into the space used by another letter.
A light-armed foot soldier of the ancient militia of Ireland and Scotland; in archaic contexts often used as a term of contempt.
Alternative form of quern
A churn.
In plain English: A kern is the empty space between letters that makes text easier to read by adjusting how close they sit together.
"The farmer used a kern to make butter from the fresh cream."
Usage: This term is highly technical and specific to typography; avoid using it in general conversation when referring to spacing issues. Readers unfamiliar with font design will likely confuse this specialized noun with the verb form or unrelated concepts like "kernel."
furnish with a kern
"The calligrapher carefully kerned the letters to ensure even spacing between them."
remove a portion of space between (adjacent letters)
"The typesetter kerned the headline to eliminate the awkward gaps between certain letter pairs."
To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters (characters or glyphs); to perform such adjustments to a portion of text, according to preset rules.
"The graphic designer kerned the title so that each letter had just enough breathing room without altering the overall width of the word."
In plain English: To kern text means to adjust the spacing between individual letters so they look balanced and even when you read them together.
"The designer had to kern the title carefully to make it visually appealing."
A surname.
"The renowned architect Kern designed several iconic skyscrapers in Chicago during the early twentieth century."
The word "kern" comes from the same root as English corn and Dutch kern, originally meaning a core or seed in various Germanic languages like Old High German and Norse. It entered Middle English as a variant of corn before evolving into its current sense related to military service, distinct from the agricultural grain it once shared with words like "kernel."