latetype

Latetype is a term used in typography and font metadata to denote typefaces that support the Latin script, the writing system used for most Western European languages. It typically includes the basic Latin alphabet along with diacritic marks found in many languages and may extend to Latin-based ligatures and symbols. The term is not consistently standardized and is often described using phrases such as Latin-script fonts, Latin-typefaces, or simply Latin fonts.

In font catalogs, digital asset pipelines, and font-management tools, latetype serves as a shorthand to separate Latin-script fonts from those designed for Cyrillic, Greek, or non-Latin scripts. Rendering engines and font-subsetting processes may rely on script tags or Unicode coverage information to determine whether a font can render Latin characters.

Latetype coverage generally aligns with Unicode Latin blocks, including Basic Latin and Latin Extended ranges. Font metadata may annotate latetype support to indicate which Latin characters, diacritics, ligatures, and punctuation are included, informing localization and typography decisions.

The term is not a formal classification in standard typography references. It tends to appear in internal datasets, asset-management contexts, or research discussions where a lightweight label for Latin-script capability is useful.

See also: Latin script, Unicode, font metadata, script tagging, Latin Extended blocks.