Editing Serif (section)

=== East Asia ===
{{Main|Ming (typeface)}}
[[File:Ming serif.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|From left to right: a serif typeface with serifs in red, a serif typeface, and a sans-serif typeface]]

In the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Japanese language|Japanese]] writing systems, there are common type styles based on the [[regular script]] for [[Chinese characters]] akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. In Mainland China, the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called [[Songti|Song]] ({{lang|zh|宋体}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Songti}}); in Japan, the most popular serif style is called {{nihongo||明朝|Minchō}}; and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is called {{Transliteration|zh|Ming}} ({{lang|zh|明體}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Mingti}}). The names of these lettering styles come from the [[Song dynasty|Song]] and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] dynasties, when [[block printing]] flourished in China. Because the [[wood grain]] on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}. In accordance with Chinese calligraphy ([[kaiti]] style in particular), where each horizontal stroke is ended with a dipping motion of the brush, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes, triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes, and overall geometrical regularity.

In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on [[kanji]] and [[kana]] characters are called {{Transliteration|ja|uroko}}—"fish scales".  In Chinese, the serifs are called either {{Transliteration|zh|yǒujiǎotǐ}} ({{lang|zh|有脚体}}, lit. "forms with legs"){{citation needed|date=March 2023}} or {{Transliteration|zh|yǒuchènxiàntǐ}} ({{lang|zh|有衬线体}}, lit. "forms with ornamental lines").

The other common East Asian style of type is called black ({{lang|zh|黑体/體}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Hēitǐ}}) in Chinese and {{nihongo|[[Japanese gothic typeface|Gothic]]|ゴシック体|Goshikku-tai}} in Japanese. This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif". This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards. A Japanese-language font designed in imitation of western serifs also exists.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.akibatec.net/wabunfont/library/dynafont/design.html#ugaso | title=和文フォント大図鑑 &#91;ダイナコムウェア／その他&#93; }}</ref>