The distance between the baseline and the waist line in a typeface is called what?

• A. Cap height
• B. Baseline
• C. Ascender height
• D. X-height

Answer: (D)

In typography, the height of the body of the lowercase letters is what defines the overall visible size of most type. The distance from the baseline up to the top of those lowercase letter shapes—the line where the main body of letters sits—is the x-height. This is exactly the measure described when talking about the distance to the waist line. Cap height goes up to the top of uppercase letters, ascender height measures how high ascenders reach, and the baseline is simply the line the characters sit on. So the x-height is the correct term for that distance.