An en (from English '' en quadrat'') is a typographic unit, half of the width of an em. By definition, it is equivalent to half of the body height of the

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

(e.g., in 16- point type it is 8 points). The en is sometimes referred to as the "nut", to avoid confusion with the similar-sounding "em". The en dash () and en

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

() are each one ''en'' wide. In English, the en dash is commonly used for inclusive ranges (e.g., "pages 12–17" or "August 7, 1988 – November 26, 2005"), to connect

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can b ...

es to open compounds (e.g., "pre–World War II"). The en-dash is also increasingly used to replace the long dash ("—", also called an em dash or em rule). When using it to replace a long dash, spaces are needed either side of it – like so. This is standard practice in the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

, where the

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (en dash , em dash and others), which are wider, or with t ...

is the only

dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

without spaces on either side ( line breaks are not spaces ''per se'').

History

Some sources claim the term "en" was derived from the letter "n", which is roughly half the width of the letter "m". This etymology, however, is disputed. Beginning in the late 18th century, compositors were frequently paid by the en, rather than by the page. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, a commonly cited "standard" rate was 1,000 ens per hour, although actual compositors' output varied widely. Many workers fell short of this figure, while skilled workers were known to set 2,000–3,000 ens per hour, and late-1900s typesetting competitions often saw participants reach a corrected rate of 4,000 ens per hour. After the introduction of the Linotype typesetters frequently reached rates of at least 6,000 ens per hour.

Associated symbols

* ''en space'': * ''en dash'':

References

Typography {{typography-stub

History

Associated symbols

See also

References