Monotype Corsiva – A traditional script example. The other common ampersand design is the italic ampersand, featured below:
![superglue in death metal font superglue in death metal font](https://cdn.myfonts.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=720,height=360,fit=contain,format=auto/images/pim/10000/78123_412432ca856cc7f971dea1cadf4a2dde.png)
Here are some examples:Īndale Mono – A very traditional, sans-serif example.Īpple Chancery – A fancier, serif example. The standard ampersand most of us are used to seeing is the Carolignian variety, and is featured in many commonly-used fonts. Even as the ampersand has evolved and become more stylized, it still retains the basic shape of E and T combined. The original ampersand designs reflected their origins as a ligature of E and T. Ampersands are also commonly used in programming, particularly in MySQL, C and C++, XML, SGML, and BASIC. It’s experiencing a bit of a resurgence in general usage, as it commonly replaces “and” in text messages and Twitter updates.
![superglue in death metal font superglue in death metal font](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81XVIh0ZtxS._AC_SX522_.jpg)
It’s used in modern text often, probably most frequently in the names of corporations and other businesses, or in other formal titles (such as Dungeons & Dragons). The ampersand is a part of every roman font. And the ampersand symbol was originally the last character in the alphabet.) (Historically, “and per se” preceded any letter which was also a word in the alphabet, such as “I” or “A”. The word was created as a slurred form of “and, per se and”, which was what the alphabet ended with when recited in English-speaking schools. The word “ampersand” was first added to dictionaries in 1837. They’re often more formal-looking and fancier than the standard Carolignian ampersand. These were developed as part of cursive scripts that were developed during the Renaissance. Italic ampersands were a later ligature of E and T, and are also present in modern fonts. The modern ampersand has remained largely unchanged from the Carolignian ampersands developed in the ninth century. You can see the evolution of the ampersand below (1 is like the original Roman ligature, 2 and 3 are from the fourth century, and 4-6 are from the ninth century). The first ampersands looked very much like the separate E and T combined, but as type developed over the next few centuries, it eventually became more stylized and less representative of its origins. If you look at the modern ampersand, you’ll likely still be able to see the E and T separately. It was originally a ligature of the letters E and T (”et” is Latin for and).
![superglue in death metal font superglue in death metal font](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/A3WanJ-XsQg/maxresdefault.jpg)
The ampersand can be traced back to the first century AD. Read on for more information, a history of the ampersand, and a gallery of ampersand designs from a variety of different typefaces. The ampersand has a long and rather interesting history, though.Īnd with all the variations available out there, there are a whole host of design possibilities presented by this particular character. Typography designers can exercise a lot more artistic freedom in the design of the ampersand, ranging from very traditional representations to those that bear little resemblance to the original form.īut many designers have little knowledge about the origin and meaning of the ampersand. The ampersand is one of the most unique typographical characters out there.