Since the metal type printing era, a font was a set of lead pieces for a specific typeface in a particular style and size. For example, Times New Roman 10pts, Times New Roman Bold 16pts and Times New Roman Bold Italic 16pts are three different fonts of Times New Roman typeface.

The term ‘font’ comes from the French word fondre (meaning ‘to melt’), as characters were made by melting a lead mix poured into matrices to produce types in batches.

In the digital world, a font is now an independent font file of a typeface in a specific style. Another example: Helvetica Neue Light and Helvetica Neue Light Italic are two individual fonts.