sans

Sans in everyday English

As a preposition, sans means without. It often gives a sentence an old-fashioned or deliberately playful tone. It is less neutral than simply writing without.

Sans in typography

A sans-serif typeface has no serifs: the short finishing strokes found on letters in serif typefaces. In typography, a sans can be a shortened name for a sans-serif typeface.

Arial is an example of a sans-serif typeface. The name Gothic, however, can mean either blackletter or sans-serif lettering in different typographic traditions. A font name needs context; Gothic does not always mean ornate letters.

Is sans an English word or a French word?

It is French in origin and is also recorded as an English word. In an English sentence, its English pronunciation and use should be explained from an English dictionary rather than assumed from modern French.

Sans entered English through French, with a history leading back to Latin sine, meaning without. In sans-serif, it combines with serif to mean without serifs. Sans later became a short form of the typography term. Sources differ on the earliest date of that shortened noun, so none is asserted here.