legature

Legature is a term that appears in different, related senses in English, often as an older or less common spelling of ligature. It derives from Latin ligatura, meaning a binding or tying. In modern usage, legature is most often encountered as a historical or regional variant rather than a preferred contemporary form.

In medicine and surgery, legature refers to the act of tying off a vessel, duct, or structure using a ligature (a thread, suture, or material used to constrict). The procedure is called ligation, and the instrument, knot, and material used may collectively be described as a ligature. In historical medical texts, legature is sometimes used as the noun for the act or for the applied suture; today the term ligature is far more common.

In typography, ligature denotes a single glyph that combines two or more letters into one character to improve appearance or readability. While legature is not the standard term in contemporary typography, ligature is widely used to describe combinations such as fi, fl, æ, and œ. In digital typography, ligatures may be provided as discretionary or required features in fonts, often implemented via OpenType software; Unicode encodes some ligature forms as separate characters, but many ligatures are produced by font rendering rather than separate code points.

Overall, legature today is primarily encountered as a historical spelling or in specific technical contexts, with ligature being the standard term in both typography and medicine. See also: ligature (disambiguation).