Sort (typesetting)

In physical typesetting, a sort or type is a block with a typographic character etched on it, used—when lined up with others—to print text.

[1] In movable-type printing, the sort or type is cast from a matrix mold and assembled by hand with other sorts bearing additional characters into lines of type to make up a form, from which a page is printed.

From the invention of movable type up to the invention of hot metal typesetting essentially all printed text was created by selecting sorts from a type case and assembling them line by line into a form used to print a page.

The popular Linotype cast entire lines of text at once rather than individual sorts, while the less popular competitor Monotype still cast the sorts individually.

Later, when phototypesetting replaced hot metal typesetting, sorts disappeared entirely from the mainstream printing process.