letterspacing

• letter-spacing

From letter +‎ spacing.

letterspacing (usually uncountable, plural letterspacings)

1. (typography) The amount of space between adjacent text characters.

   Synonym: tracking

   Hypernym: spacing

   Coordinate term: kerning

2. The practice of typing a letterspace in between the letters of a word (for emphasis) or an abbreviation (for delimitation), which in current orthographies and styles tends to be limited (to only certain uses).

   Hypernyms: spacing, spacing out

   The typewritten identification papers from 1942 recorded the surname as A C K E R M A N N, with capitals and letterspacing.

   The typewritten memo from 1952 referred to the CIA as the C. I. A., with periods and letterspacing.