| Japanese | Romanized transliteration | Definition |
|---|
| back matter | 後付 | atozuke | |
| base character | 親文字 | oya moji | A character to be annotated by ruby, ornament characters, or emphasis dots. |
| base line | 並び線 | narabi sen | A virtual line on which almost all glyphs in Western fonts are designed to be aligned. (JIS Z 8125) |
| bibliography | 参考文献 | sankō bunken | A list of works and papers related to the subjects in the text. (JIS Z 8125) |
| blank page | 白ページ | shiro pēji | An empty page. |
| bleed | 裁切り | tachikiri | To print a picture or a tint to run off the edge of a trimmed page. (JIS Z 8125) |
| block direction | 行送り方向 | gyō okuri hōkō | The direction lines progress, one after the other. (JIS Z 8125) |
| bound on the left-hand side | 左綴じ | hidari toji | Binding of a book to be opened from the left. |
| bound on the right-hand side | 右綴じ | migi toji | Binding of a book to be opened from the right. |
| bousen | 傍線 | bōsen | A line drawn by the left or right side of a character or a run of text in vertical writing mode. (JIS Z 8125) |
| break (a line) | （2行に）分割 | bunkatsu | To place the first of two adjacent characters at the end of a line and the second at the head of a new line. |
| caption | キャプション | kyapushon | A title or a short description accompanying a picture, an illustration, or a table. (JIS Z 8125) |
| centering | 中央そろえ | chūō soroe | To align the center of a run of text that is shorter than a given line length to the center of a line. (JIS Z 8125) |
| character advance | 字幅 | jihaba | Size of a character frame in the inline direction, generally indicated as a ratio of the size of a full-width character, as in full-width, half-width, or quarter em width. Character advance is the width of a given character in horizontal writing-mode, while it is the height in vertical writing-mode. |
| character frame | （文字の）外枠 | sotowaku | Rectangular area occupied by a character when it is set solid. |
| character shape | 字形 | jikei | Incarnation of a character by handwriting, printing or rendering to a computer screen. (JIS Z 8125) |
| character size | 文字サイズ | moji saizu | Dimensions of a character. Unless otherwise noted, it refers to the size of a character frame in the block direction. |
| characters not ending line | 行末禁則文字 | gyōmatsu kinsoku moji | Any character for which "line-end prohibition rule" is invoked. (JIS Z 8125) |
| characters not starting line | 行頭禁則文字 | gyōtō kinsoku moji | Any character for which "line-start prohibition rule" is invoked. (JIS Z 8125) |
| column | 段 | dan | A partition on a page in multi-column format. (JIS Z 8125) |
| column gap | 段間 | dankan | Amount of space between columns on a page. (JIS Z 8125) |
| composition | 組版 | kumihan | Process of arrangement of text, figures and/or pictures, etc on a page in a desired layout (design) in preparation for printing. |
| compound word (jukugo) | 熟語 | jukugo | A combination of two or more kanji characters which makes one word. |
| continuous pagination | 通しノンブル | tōshi nonburu | a) To number the pages of a book continuously across all those in the front matter, the text and the back matter.
b) To number the pages continuously across those of all books, such as a series published in separate volumes. Also to number the pages continuously across those of all issues of a periodical published in a year, aside from pagination per issue.
(JIS Z 8125) |
| descender line | ディセンダライン | disenda rain | A descender is the part of a letter extending below the base line, as in 'g', 'j', 'p', 'q', or 'y'. A descender line is a virtual line drawn at the bottom of descender parallel to base line. |
| double running head method | 両柱方式 | ryōbashira hōshiki | A method that prints running heads on both even and odd pages. (JIS Z 8125) |
| emphasis dots | 圏点 | kenten | Symbols attached alongside a run of base characters to emphasize them. (JIS Z 8125) |
| endnote | 後注 | kōchū | A set of notes placed at the end of a part, chapter, section, paragraph and so on, or at the end of a book. (JIS Z 8125) |
| European numerals | アラビア数字 | arabia sūji | Any of the symbols in [0-9] used to represent numbers. (JIS Z 8125) |
| even inter-character spacing | 均等割り | kintō wari | A text setting with uniform inter-character spacing per line so that each line is aligned on the same line-head and line-end. (JIS Z 8125) |
| even spacing distribution | 均等そろえ | kintō soroe | To align a text to both edges of a line by inserting the same amount of space between characters. |
| even tsumegumi | 均等詰め | kintō zume | Adjustment of inter-character space by subtracting the same amount of space. (JIS Z 8125) |
| face tsumegumi | 字面詰め | jizura zume | Adjustment of inter-character space by subtracting space to the extent that two letter faces are placed adjacent. (JIS Z 8125) |
| fixed inter-character spacing | アキ組 | aki gumi | A text setting with a uniform inter-character spacing. (JIS Z 8125) |
| fixed-width | モノスペース | monosupēsu | A characteristic of a font where the same character advance is assigned for all glyphs. (JIS Z 8125) |
| font | フォント | fonto | A set of character glyphs of a given typeface. (JIS Z 8125) |
| foot | 地 | chi | a) The bottom part of a book or a page.
b) The bottom margin between the edge of a trimmed page and the hanmen (text area)
(JIS Z 8125) |
| footnote | 脚注 | kyakuchū | A note in a smaller face than that of main text, placed at the bottom of a page. (JIS Z 8125) |
| fore-edge | 小口 | koguchi | a) The three front trimmed edges of pages in a book.
b) The opposite sides of the gutter in a book.
(JIS Z 8125) |
| front matter | 前付 | maezuke | The first part of a book followed by the text, usually consisting of a forward, preface, table of contents, list of illustrations, acknowledgement and so on. |
| full-width | 全角 | zenkaku | a) Relative index for the length which is equal to a given character size.
b) Character frame which character advance is equal to the amount referred to as a). A full-width character frame is square in shape by definition. |
| furigana | 振り仮名 | furigana | A method of ruby annotation using kana characters to indicate how to read kanji characters. This term derives from a Japanese verb "furu (to attach alongside)" and "kana", and has been used synonymously with "ruby". This document prefers to use the term "ruby". |
| furikanji | 振り漢字 | furikanji | A method of ruby annotation using Kanji characters for ruby instead of kana characters. |
| furiwake | 振分け | furiwake | A method of placing multiple runs of text in a line. (JIS Z 8125) |
| general-ruby | 総ルビ | sō rubi | A method of ruby annotation that attaches ruby text for all Kanji characters in the text. (JIS Z 8125) |
| group-ruby | グループルビ | gurūpu rubi | A method of ruby character distribution such that the length of ruby text matches to that of the base text by giving the same adjusted amount of space between ruby characters. |
| gutter | のど | nodo | a) The binding side of a spread of a book.
b) the margin between the binding edge of a book and the hanmen (text area).
c) The part of a book where all pages are bound together to the book spine.
(JIS Z 8125) |
| half em | 二分 | nibu | Half of the full-width size. (JIS Z 8125) |
| half em space | 二分アキ | nibu aki | Amount of space that is half size of em space. |
| half-width | 半角 | hankaku | Character frame which has a character advance of a half em. |
| hanmen (page content area) | 版面 | hanmen | Actual printed area in a page excluding the margins. (note: Running heads and page numbers are not part of hanmen.) (JIS Z 8125) |
| han-tobira | 半扉 | hantobira | A simplified version of naka-tobira, the verso side of which text of the new part starts. (JIS Z 8125) |
| head | 天 | ten | a) The top part of a book or a page.
b) The top margin between the top edge of a trimmed page and the hanmen (text area)
(JIS Z 8125) |
| heading | 見出し | midashi | a) A title of a paper or an article.
b) A title for each section of a book, paper or article.
(JIS Z 8125) |
| horizontal writing mode | 横組 | yokogumi | The process or the result of arranging characters on a line from left to right, of lines on a page from top to bottom, and/or of columns on a page from left to right. (JIS Z 8125) |
| hyphenation | ハイフネーション | haifunēshon | A method of breaking a line by dividing a Western word at the end of a line and adding a hyphen at the end of the first half of the syllable. |
| ideographic numerals | 漢数字 | kansūji | Ideographic characters representing numbers. |
| illustrations | 図版 | zuhan | A general term referring to a diagram, chart, cut, figure, picture and the like, to be used for printed materials. |
| independent pagination | 別ノンブル | betsu nonburu | To number the pages of the front matter, the text and the back matter independently. (JIS Z 8125) |
| index | 索引 | sakuin | A list of terms or subjects with page numbers for where they are referred to in a single or multiple volumes of a book. (JIS Z 8125) |
| inline direction | 字詰め方向 | jizume hōkō | Text direction in a line. (JIS Z 8125) |
| inseparable characters rule | 分離禁止 | bunri kinshi | A line adjustment rule that prohibits inserting any space between specific combinations of characters. (JIS Z 8125) |
| inter-character space | 字間 | jikan | Amount of space between two adjacent character frames on the same line. |
| itemization | 箇条書き | kajō gaki | To list ordered or unordered items one under the other. (JIS Z 8125) |
| Japanese and Western mixed text composition | 和欧文混植 | waō konshoku | To mix Japanese text and Western text in the same composition. |
| Japanese characters | 和文文字 | wabun moji | Characters used to compose Japanese text. |
| Japanese gothic face | ゴシック体 | goshikku tai | A Japanese typeface, with strokes almost the same in thickness, and no special ornament on a stroke such as a triangular element commonly seen in the Mincho typeface. Used for text emphasis and/or headings. |
| jidori | 字取り | jidori | A method of aligning a run of text to both edges which is specified by a position to start and the length calculated by a specified number of a given size of characters. (JIS Z 8125) |
| Jouyou Kanji Table | 常用漢字表 | jōyō kanji hyō | The official list of Kanji characters "for general use in society. such as in legal and official documents, newspapers, magazines, broadcasting and the like". It was established in 1981 as a reference guide for people in composing contemporary Japanese. It listed 1,945 of Kanji characters together with their orthographic shapes, Japanese native reading (Kun), Chinese derived reading (On) and other useful information. |
| jukugo-ruby | 熟語ルビ | jukugo rubi | A method of ruby character distribution determined by two functions, one is to provide reading for each Kanji character, the other is to give a united appearance attached to a word. |
| kanbun composition | 漢文 | kanbun | Chinese classic text (or text in the same style) with various auxiliary symbols so that it can be read as Japanese text. |
| katatsuki (katatsuki-ruby) | 肩付き（肩付きルビ） | katatsuki (katatsuki rubi) | A method of attaching ruby at the upper right of each base character. (JIS Z 8125) |
| kihon-hanmen | 基本版面 | kihon hanmen | The default dimensions of the main area of a typeset page specified by text direction, number of columns, character size, number of characters in a line, number of lines in a column, inter-line spacing and inter-column spacing. (JIS X 4051) |
| letter face | 字面 | jizura | Area in which glyph is drawn. (JIS Z 8125) |
| letterpress printing | 活字組版 | katsuji kumihan | The traditional printing method using movable type. |
| line adjustment | 行の調整処理 | gyō no chōsei shori | A method of aligning both edges of all lines to be the same given length by removing or adding adjustable spaces. |
| line adjustment by hanging punctuation | ぶら下げ組 | burasage gumi | A line breaking rule to avoid commas or full stops at a line head (which is prohibited in Japanese typography) by taking them back to the end of the previous line beyond the specified line length. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line adjustment by inter-character space expansion | 追出し処理 | oidashi shori | A line breaking rule that aligns both edges of a line by expanding inter-character spaces. (JIS Z 8125). |
| line adjustment by inter-character space reduction | 追込み処理 | oikomi shori | A line breaking rule that aligns both edges of a line by removing adjustable spaces such as conditional spaces for punctuation marks. (JIS Z 8125). |
| line breaking rules | 禁則処理 | kinsoku shori | A set of rules to avoid prohibited layout in Japanese typography, such as "line-start prohibition rule", "line-end prohibition rule", inseparable or unbreakable character sequences and so on. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line end | 行末 | gyōmatsu | The position at which a line ends. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line end alignment | 行末そろえ | gyōmatsu soroe | To align a run of text to the line end. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line end indent | 字上げ | jiage | To reserve a certain amount of space before the default position of a line end. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line-end prohibition rule | 行末禁則 | gyōmatsu kinsoku | A line breaking rule that prohibits specific characters at a line end. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line feed | 行送り | gyō okuri | The distance between two adjacent lines measured by their reference points. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line gap | 行間 | gyoukan | The smallest amount of space between adjacent lines. |
| line head | 行頭 | gyoutou | The position at which a line starts. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line head alignment | 行頭そろえ | gyōtō soroe | To align a run of text to the line head. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line head indent | 字下げ | jisage | To reserve a certain amount of space after the default position of a line head. (JIS Z 8125) |
| line length | 行長 | gyōchō | Length of a line with a pre-defined number of characters. When the line is indented at the line head or the line end, it is length of the line from the specified amount of line head indent to the specified amount of line end indent. |
| line-start prohibition rule | 行頭禁則 | gyōtō kinsoku | A line breaking rule that prohibits specific characters at a line head. (JIS Z 8125) |
| main text | 本文 | honbun | a) The principal part of a book, usually preceded by the front matter, followed by the back matter.
b) The principal part of an article excluding figures, tables, heading, notes, leads and so on.
c) The content of a page excluding running heads and page numbers.
d) The net contents of a book excluding covers, end papers, insets and so on.
(JIS Z 8125) |
| matrix | 母型 | bokei | A metal mold from which movable type is cast. |
| mixed text composition | 混植 | konshoku | a) To interleave Japanese text with Western text in a line (Japanese and Western mixed text composition).
b) To compose text with different sizes of characters (mixed size composition).
c) To compose text with different typefaces (mixed typeface composition).
(JIS Z 8125) |
| mono-ruby | モノルビ | mono rubi | A method of ruby distribution where a run of ruby text is attached to each base character. (JIS Z 8125) |
| multi-column format | 段組 | dangumi | A format of text on a page where text is divided into two or more sections (columns) in the inline direction and each column is separated by a certain amount of space (column space). (JIS Z 8125) |
| multivolume work | 多巻物 | takanmono | A set of work published in two or more volumes, as in the complete work or the first/last half volumes. |
| naka-tobira | 中扉 | naka tobira | A recto or a page inserted to divide two different parts in a book. It often has a title or other text to describe the new part. (JIS Z 8125) |
| nakatsuki (nakatsuki-ruby) | 中付き（中付きルビ） | nakatsuki (nakatsuki rubi) | A method of ruby character distribution where each ruby character is aligned to the vertical center of the corresponding base character in vertical writing mode, or to the horizontal center of the base character in horizontal writing mode. (JIS Z 8125) |
| new recto | 改丁 | kaichō | To start a new heading or something on a odd page. (JIS Z 8125) |
| note | 注 | chū | Explanatory information added to terms, figures or tables. (JIS Z 8125) |
| number of characters per line | 字詰め | jizume | Number of characters in a line to specify the length of lines. (JIS Z 8125) |
| number of columns | 段数 | dansū | Number of columns on a page. (JIS Z 8125) |
| one em space | 全角アキ | zenkaku aki | Amount of space that is full-width size. |
| one third em | 三分 | sanbu | One third of the full-width size. (JIS Z 8125) |
| one third em space | 三分アキ | sanbu aki | Amount of space that is one third size of em space. |
| one-third-ruby | 三分ルビ | sanbu rubi | Ruby characters, narrow enough so that three can fit within the width of a full-width base character. |
| original pattern | 原図 | genzu | An original drawn pattern of a character image to be used for a printing type or a digitized glyph. |
| ornament characters | 添え字 | soeji | A superscript or subscript attached to a base character. (JIS Z 8125) |
| page | ページ | pēji | A side of a sheet of paper in a written work such as a book. (JIS Z 8125) |
| page break | 改ページ | kai pēji | To end a page even if it is not full and to start a new page with the next paragraph, a new heading and so on. (JIS Z 8125) |
| page format | 組体裁 | kumi teisai | The layout and presentation of a page with text, graphics and other elements for a publication such as a book. |
| page number | ノンブル | nonburu | A sequential number to indicate the order of pages in a publication. (JIS Z 8125) |
| para-ruby | パラルビ | para rubi | A method of ruby annotation where ruby text is only attached to selected Kanji characters in the text. (JIS Z 8125) |
| paragraph | 段落 | danraku | A group of sentences to be processed for line composition. A paragraph consists of one or more lines. (JIS Z 8125) |
| paragraph break | 改行 | kaigyō | To start a new line to indicate a new paragraph. |
| paragraph format | 段落整形 | danraku seikei | A format of a paragraph, as in line head indent or line end indent. |
| point | ポイント | pointo | A measurement unit of character size. 1 point is equal to 0.3514mm (see JIS Z 8305). There is another unit to measure character sizes called Q, where 1Q is equivalent to 0.25mm. |
| printing types | 活字 | katsuji | Movable type used for letterpress printing. |
| proportional | プロポーショナル | puropōshonaru | A characteristic of a font where character advance is different per glyph. (JIS Z 8125) |
| punctuation marks | 約物 | yakumono | A general term referring to the symbols used in text composition to help make the meaning of text clearer, as in commas, full stops, question marks, brackets, diereses and so on. (JIS Z 8125) |
| quarter em | 四分 | shibu | Quarter size of full-width. |
| quarter em space | 四分アキ | shibu aki | Amount of space that is a quarter of an em space in size. |
| quarter em width | 四分角 | shibu kaku | Character frame which has a character advance of a quarter em. (JIS X 4051) |
| quotation | 引用文 | in-yōbun | Excerps from other published works. (JIS Z 8125) |
| reference marks | 合印 | aijirushi | A symbol or short run of text attached to a specific part of text, to which notes are provided followed by the corresponding marks. |
| reverse pagination | 逆ノンブル | gyaku nonburu | Numbering pages of a book backwards. (JIS Z 8125) |
| Roman numerals | ローマ数字 | rōma sūji | Numerals represented by upper case or lower case of Latin letters. (JIS Z 8125) |
| ruby | ルビ | rubi | Supplementary small characters indicating pronunciation, meaning, etc. for the character or the block of characters they annotate. (JIS Z 8125) (Sometimes these annotations are referred to as "furigana".) |
| running head | 柱 | hashira | A page element which contains information on the title of the book, chapter, section and so on, printed outside the area of the hanmen. (JIS Z 8125) |
| single line alignment method | そろえ | soroe | To align a run of text that is shorter than a given line length to designated positions. |
| single running head method | 片柱方式 | katabashira hōshiki | A method that puts running heads only on odd pages. (JIS Z 8125) |
| small kana | 小書きの仮名 | kogaki no kana | Kana with smaller letter faces to be used mainly for representing contracted sounds or prolonged vowels. (JIS Z 8125) |
| solid setting | ベタ組 | beta gumi | To arrange characters with no inter-character space between adjacent character frames. |
| space | アキ | aki | Amount of space between adjacent characters or lines. It also refers to the blank area between the edges of a hanmen or an illustration and text or other hanmen elements. |
| spread | 見開き | mihiraki | Any two facing pages when opening a book and the like. (JIS Z 8125) |
| subscript (inferior) | 下付き | shitatsuki | Smaller face of characters, attached to the lower right or the lower left of a normal size character. (JIS Z 8125) |
| superscript (superior) | 上付き | uwatsuki | Smaller face of characters, attached to the upper right or the upper left of a normal size character. (JIS Z 8125) |
| tab setting | タブ処理 | tabu shori | A method of line composition to align one or more runs of text to designated positions on a line. |
| table | 表 | hyō | Formatted data consisting of characters or numbers, arranged in cells and sometimes divided by lines, in order to present the data in a way that is easier to understand. (JIS Z 8125) |
| table of contents | 目次 | mokuji | A list of headings of contents of a book in page order or arranged by subjects, with page numbers on which each section begins. (JIS Z 8125) |
| tate-chu-yoko | 縦中横 | tate chū yoko | To typeset a (small) group of characters horizontally within a vertical line of main text. |
| tentsuki | 天付き | tentsuki | a) To remove conditional space from opening brackets at a line head to align the line head to the ones of the adjacent lines.
b) Not to add the default line head indent for the first line of a paragraph so as to align all line heads.
(JIS Z 8125) |
| text direction | 組方向 | kumi hōkō | Horizontal setting or vertical setting. (JIS Z 8125) |
| Touyou Kanji Table | 当用漢字表 | tōyō kanji hyō | The official list of Kanji characters established in 1946, which was designed to restrict the Kanji characters for general use in society to only those 1850 specified in the list. The list together with other related tables was superseded by the Jouyou Kanji Table. |
| trim size | 仕上りサイズ | shiagari saizu | Dimensions of a full page in a publication, including margins. (JIS Z 8125) |
| tsumegumi | 詰め組 | tsumegumi | Adjustment of inter-character space by making the distance between the letter face of adjacent characters shorter than that produced by solid setting. (JIS Z 8125) |
| type-picking | 文選 | bunsen | To select metal type for characters needed to print a manuscript. (Metal type is stored in a type case, but because the number of Japanese characters is very large, an extra operation was invented that involves collecting type in a so-called 'bunsen box' before typesetting a manuscript using a composing stick.) |
| typeface | 書体 | shotai | A set of letters or symbols, which are designed to have coherent patterns to be used for printing or rendering to a computer screen. (JIS Z 8125) |
| unbreakable characters rule | 分割禁止 | bunkatsu kinshi | A line breaking rule that prohibits breaking a line between consecutive dashes or leaders, or between other specific combinations of characters. |
| underline | 下線 | kasen | A line drawn under a character or a run of text in horizontal writing mode. (JIS Z 8125) |
| vertical writing mode | 縦組 | tate gumi | The process or the result of arranging characters on a line from top to bottom, of lines on a page from right to left, and/or of columns on a page from top to bottom. (JIS Z 8125) |
| warichu (inline cutting note) | 割注 | warichū | A note of two or more lines inserted in the text. It includes brackets which surround the note (JIS Z 8125) |
| widow | ウィドウ | widō | The term in Western text layout to describe that the last line of a paragraph with only a few words appears at the top of a new page or a column. (JIS Z 8125) |
| widow adjustment | 段落末尾処理 | danraku matsubi shori | A method of line composition to adjust lines in a paragraph so that the last line consists of more than a given number of characters. |
The definitions with (JIS Z 8125) and (JIS X 4051) at the end are those adopted for the corresponding terms by JIS Z 8125 ("Graphic arts - Glossary - Digital printing terms") and JIS X 4051 ("Formatting rules for Japanese documents") respectively.