fraktur
noun 

 

- a German style of black letter


- a typeface formerly widely used for German printing


- a style of German black-letter type



 

Merriam-Webster, Collins English Dictionary, Webster’s New World 

—
WORD ORIGIN



 

Fractur comes into English from German Fraktur, ultimately from Latin fractura — “a breaking”. That makes it a close relative of English fracture.

The name refers to the appearance of the letters. Instead of the smooth, rounded curves familiar from Roman type, many strokes appear angular or “broken”. Hence the German term gebrochene Schrift.



 

The English word is recorded by Merriam-Webster from 1904, although the type itself is centuries older.

—
THE SECRET VOICE OF TYPE

 

Before we read a single word, a typeface has already whispered something to us.



 

Compare:

  

  PLEASE KEEP OFF THE GRASS 

  Please keep off the grass



  Please keep off the grass



Same words, different voices. One seems commanding, another polite, another oddly informal. 

 

Typography is the tone of voice of written language.

 Psychologists sometimes connect this with processing fluency. Familiar, highly legible typefaces are easy for the brain to process and can make information feel straightforward and trustworthy. More difficult typefaces slow us down. Some experiments have even suggested that this extra effort can improve memory.



 

Typefaces also arrive carrying cultural luggage. Times New Roman suggests newspapers, academia and officialdom. Helvetica feels clean, modern and corporate. Courier recalls the typewriter.

 

That is typography’s peculiar power. We think we’re simply reading words.

 We’re also reading the clothes the words are wearing.

 

Helga & Paul Smith 
 
—
SYNONYMS

 

blackletter, black-letter type, broken script, FRACTUR, Fraktur type, Gothic script, Gothic type, German blackletter

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:'

“The associations of blackletter type styles like FACTUR are fascinating.”

____________________
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