font categories

Main category Sub category Description
Serif Venetian/Humanist Old calligraphic style like Jenson and Centaur.
Garalde More modeled like Garamond and Caslon
Transitional More mechanical like Baskerville and Times
Glyphic Incized Roman types. See Trajan, Goudy Trajan
Didone High contrast like Didot and Bodoni
Contemporary Serif typefaces with a modern appearance which doesn't fit Transitional
Slab serif Egyptienne Square/unbracketed serifs. More sans-like.
Clarendon/Ionic Robust yet antique. Bracketed serifs.
Tuscan Western fonts and slab serifs with decorative serifs.
Contemporary Modern slab serif like Prensa Slab or Museo Slab
Sans Grotesque Robust and linear. See Helvetica, Univers, DIN.
Geometric Based on geometric elements. See Futura, Eurostile, Nobel.
Humanist Calligraphic influences. See Gill Sans, Frutiger, Ideal Sans.
Chirographic Script Elegant writing fonts with swashes and ligatures etc.
Hand writing Typical hand writing font. No scripts.
Comic Hand-lettered sans fonts for comic books. See Comic Sans.
Calligraphy Any font done in calligraphy (excluding blackletters)
Blackletter Textura Blackletter with detail and texture. Old English, Diploma
Schwabacher Typical German type. Rounded forms. See Schwabacher, Fette Deutsch
Fraktur Most robust and mechanical blackletter. Fraktur, Fette Fraktur, Fakir
Rotunda Most rounded blackletter. See Clemente Rotunda, San Marco.
Hybrida/Bastarda Hybrid of Textura and Rotunda. Bastarda is typically French. See Burgundica, Givry
Non-Latin Greek
Cyrillic
Armenian
Georgian
Arabic
Hebrew
Devanagari
Japanese Kanji, Hiragana (Kana), Katakana (Kana).
Chinese
Jia-gu wen (Oracle Bone), Da zhuan (Greater Seal), Xiao zhuan (Lesser Seal), Lis shu (Cerkly
Script)
Miscellaneous
Pixel/bitmap Pixel
Miscellaneous Display Typefaces only suitable for display use (excludes scripts and blackletters)
Grunge Any typeface with a damaged effect, or an effect at all
Dingbats Icons and symbols
Any of these languages could be collapsed into the Miscellaneous category if it's not
popular enough for its own category, though having these categories might stimulate
people to add designs as well.