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Have you ever wondered why some parts of letters are called tails and stems, and what are other parts besides them called?

As David Maier explains, a lot of the terminology seems to come from human and animal counterparts with roughly the same shape or position (eye, tail, head, foot, shoulder, arm, beak). Others are more directly descriptive (crossbar, terminal, bowl).

Here is what the various letter parts are called:

Typography | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's book