Skip to main content

Welcome to Words of Type Encyclopedia!

Baseline

Baseline

Sponsor Word of Type and feature your typeface in this card with a linked caption. Contact us for more information.

The baseline is where the bottom extremity of letters such as n and H are positioned, and it is used as a reference guide for the entire character set. We also say that letters are “sitting” on the baseline.

The baseline—with other guidelines like x-height, ascender, descender and capital height—helps to control the position of all letters and glyphs.