字体在书法和印刷领域是指文本的式样。依照ISO/IEC 9541-1:1991（ISO/IEC 9541 Information technology – Font information interchange；ISO/IEC 9541-1:1991 Architecture）的附录A《字体设计分类》，拉丁字母字体顶级分为下列8大类：

在GB/T 16964.1中添加了第九类传统汉字类。

In typography, a typeface (also known as font family) is a set of one or more fonts each composed of glyphs that share common design features. Each font of a typeface has a specific weight, style, condensation, width, slant, italicization, ornamentation, and designer or foundry (and formerly size, in metal fonts). For example, "ITC Garamond Bold Condensed Italic" means the bold, condensed-width, italic version of ITC Garamond. It is a different font from "ITC Garamond Condensed Italic" and "ITC Garamond Bold Condensed," but all are fonts within the same typeface, "ITC Garamond." ITC Garamond is a different typeface from "Adobe Garamond" or "Monotype Garamond." (These are all alternative updates or digitisations of the typeface Garamond, originally created in the 16th century.) There are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly.