: Why some fonts have the 'f' and 'i' joined I noticed today that when I type a word with the character pair fi in it, the f changes when the i is typed to have a longer top and the dot

@Barnes313

As mentioned, this is a ligature, and is one of many similar ligatures such as ffi, fl, ffl, Th, oe and ae.

If you're interested in this sort of detail within fonts (and within design, as a larger topic), I'd highly recommend the book Type Matters, by Jim Williams. It's an excellent reference manual for anyone interested in typography, and, if applied in daily writing, will greatly assist with readability and purveyance of message.

It's available on Amazon at the link above, or from good specialist bookstores.

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@Angela777

This is called ligature.


There is some useful background knowledge on Wikipedia



In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes or letters are joined as a single glyph.

Many ligatures combine f with an adjacent letter. The most prominent example is fi (or f‌i, rendered with two normal letters). The tittle of the i in many typefaces collides with the hood of the f when placed beside each other in a word, and are combined into a single glyph with the tittle absorbed into the f.





Further reading: there is already a question on graphicdesign.stackexchange about when someone should use ligatures, where at least the accepted answer is worth reading.

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