Calligraphy Glossary: 14 Terms Explained
The words that show up in calligraphy specs, reviews and how-to guides, explained without jargon.
- Broad edge
- A flat, chisel-shaped nib that creates thick and thin strokes through pen angle, used for italic and gothic scripts.
- Related: Best Parallel Pens →
- Brush pen
- A pen with a flexible brush or felt tip for brush lettering.
- Related: Best Brush Pens for Lettering →
- Feathering
- Ink bleeding into paper fibres, fixed by using smooth, heavier paper.
- Related: Best Calligraphy Practice Pads for Daily Drills →
- Fudenosuke
- A small, firm-tipped brush pen popular with beginners for control.
- Related: Best Fudenosuke-Style Pens →
- Guide sheet
- Printed lines showing baseline, x-height and slant for consistent letters.
- Related: Best Calligraphy Guide Sheets for Consistent Letterforms →
- Gum arabic
- A binder added to ink or gouache to improve flow and adhesion.
- Nib flex
- How much a nib's tines spread under pressure. More flex gives wider swells but needs more control.
- Nib prep
- Removing factory oil from a new nib, often with a little soap or saliva, so ink adheres.
- Oblique holder
- A pen holder with an offset flange that sets the nib at the right angle for slanted pointed-pen scripts.
- Related: Best Oblique Pen Holders →
- Pointed pen
- A flexible nib that creates thick and thin lines through pressure, used for copperplate and modern calligraphy.
- Related: Best Calligraphy Nib Sets →
- Straight holder
- A simple holder where the nib sits in line with the shaft, common for modern calligraphy and left-handers.
- Sumi ink
- A dense black ink that works well with pointed pens.
- Related: Best Sumi Ink for Calligraphy and Brush Lettering →
- Upstroke and downstroke
- Light pressure going up makes thin hairlines, heavier pressure coming down makes thick shades.
- X-height
- The height of lowercase letters without ascenders or descenders.