Nanum

Nanum is a Korean word meaning sharing or to share. In typography, Nanum refers to a family of free, open source Korean typefaces designed for legibility on screens, encompassing Hangul and Latin characters.

The Nanum font family was developed as part of a Korean typography initiative in the late 2000s and early 2010s to improve digital Korean typesetting. It comprises several subfamilies that cover a range of styles suitable for both body text and display.

Notable variants include Nanum Gothic, a sans-serif style optimized for screen readability; Nanum Myeongjo, a traditional serif; Nanum Brush Script, a brush-like display face; and Nanum Pen Script, a handwriting-inspired option. The designs emphasize generous x-heights, open apertures, and harmonious rhythm between Hangul and Latin glyphs, aiming for clear rendering at small sizes and on diverse devices.

Licensing and distribution are open, with the Nanum fonts commonly released under permissive licenses such as the SIL Open Font License. They are available from major font repositories and on platforms like Google Fonts, facilitating use in web and desktop publishing.

Usage and impact have been broad in Korea, with Nanum fonts adopted by government portals, educational materials, media, and digital products. They are valued for readability, cross-script consistency, and reliable rendering across platforms and languages.

Nanum also reflects a cultural concept in Korea associated with sharing and community, which complements its role as a widely distributed type family in Korean digital typography.