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Some typeface names are difficult to pronounce correctly. Here’s my list of the 12 most commonly mispronounced typeface names followed by the correct pronunciation based on their place of origin… plus one important extra.
Antique Olive: Ahn-teek’ Oh-leev’
Benguiat: Ben’-gat
Bodoni: Buh-dough’-nee (not Bo-dee’-nee)
Didot: Dee’-dough or Dee-dough’
Fenice: Feh-nee’-tchay
Fette Fraktur: Fet’-teh Frak’-tour
Kabel: Kah’-bel
Koch: Kock (ending in a hard k as in lock) or Kocch (with a gutteral ch as in chutzpah)
Neue Helvetica: Noi’-eh Hel-ve’-ti-ka
Peignot: Pen’-yoh
Sabon: Sah-bon’
Univers: Oo’-nee-ver (don’t pronounce the s at the end)
Tschichold: Tchee’ -kold (Not a typeface, but the 20th century typographer who designed Sabon.)
Antique Olive
ITC Benguiat Pro
ITC Bodoni Pro
H&FJ Didot
ITC Fenice
Fette Fraktur
Kabel
Koch Antiqua
Neue Helvetica
Peignot
Sabon
Univers
Jan Tschichold
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This article was last modified on January 3, 2022
This article was first published on April 22, 2009
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