mutton quad
Noun: 1. A specific type of typesetting space: In traditional printing with metal type, a "mutton quad" is a square piece of type metal used to create a space of one em (the square of the type size). It is a non-printing spacer that creates a blank area of a specific width within a line of text.
The term is highly specialized and historical, used almost exclusively in the context of manual typesetting and typography. * In a print shop, a compositor might ask for a mutton quad to justify a line of text. * The term originated to clearly distinguish the em quad from the narrower en quad; "mutton" was a playful, unambiguous alternative to "em."
- The name is a printer's slang term, an example of a "printer's devilry" where homophones (em/en) in instructions could lead to errors. Using "mutton" (from "mutton" meaning sheep, rhyming with "em") eliminated confusion with "en."
- Em quad: The technical term for the same spacer. "Mutton quad" is a synonym born from practical necessity.
- En quad: A spacer half the width of an em/mutton quad.
- Quad: A general term for any metal spacer used in typesetting.
- Space: The general concept; a "mutton quad" is a specific kind of fixed, physical space.
- Em space
- Em quad
This word has only one, very narrow meaning related to historical printing technology. It is not used in modern digital typography, though the concept of an "em space" as a unit of measurement persists.
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a quad with a square body
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since `em quad' is hard to distinguish from `en quad', printers sometimes called it a `mutton quad'
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