Typophile

Type Anatomy Question for letter 'W'

typogirl43

I would like to know if anyone knows the correct anatomical term for a letter W that looks like this: (Adobe Garamond Sample)
if anyone has a good complete source for typographical anatomy, could you please share? Thank you very much!

Is there anyone out there who can help me? Thanks!

I've done some Google searching, and I haven't found a technical term for the type of capital W usually found in Garamond and also present in Kabel. One encyclopedia referred to the capital W in Kabel as being "splayed", but I don't think that is the usual term, if any exists.

Basically, the issue is that W is, in this unusual form, topologically equivalent to X instead of I.

I’m not aware of any particular term. “two crossing V-shapes”? that’s obvious.

In the Book "Designing Type" by Karen Cheng, they are referred to as "overlapping". If there was a more specific term, she would probably have known about it.

"Intersecting" sounds good too

In French, the letter |W| is referred to as double V (doo-bluh-vay)—when it is drawn as two overlapping Vs, I think it is a very apt description....

It's even apt for the ordinary form of W, since that's pointy on the bottom like a V and not round on the bottom like a U, even if historically the letter W replaced uu in printing.

Volkswagen..sort of !

The doublecross _W_?
Tricky...
Don

I nominate “crosseyed”.

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