Something or someone that ascends; in typography, the part of a lowercase letter that extends above the x-height, like in letters 'd' and 'l'.
Agent noun formed from 'ascend' plus '-er' (one who performs an action). In typography, the term emerged in the 19th century as printing terminology became formalized.
Typography has hidden rules—the term 'ascender' refers to why letters like 'b' and 'd' have different visual weights than 'x' and 'n,' and this affects readability in ways your brain processes without conscious thought!
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