2889: A History of Serifs Nov 18, 2024

Serifed typefaces are no longer as popular as they once were, but at one point they were a practical necessity. It is not clear, for any writing system, even the quintessential case of Latin, why serifs developed, nor is it clear where the name comes from. One leading theory is that they were used to neaten out the ends of the lines when chiseling into stone. That said, lots of other writing systems, from Greek to Cyrillic, and arguably Hebrew and even very modern ones like the Cherokee syllabary, developed in the early 19th century, have serifs, despite having very different histories. 

Part of this may be due to parchment, which does not absorb ink but rather the ink is dragged over and dries as a layer on top of the base. Since the ink does not naturally absorb into the parchment, serifs help to get the ink started with a small scratch, and to finish the line so that the ink does not run. 

Of course, they persisted well after the invention of paper, still being used today, as a stylistic choice. For certain purposes, it does not function as well as sans-serif fonts, especially fitting lots of text into a small or narrow space while maintaining legibility, and it comes across as more old fashioned, so particularly in the internet age it has begun to be usurped in those contexts.