The main terms and metrics

The main measurements of a character - or their respective technical terms, are:

Baseline, x-height, ascender height, descender depth, body height and cap height.

 

To find out which is which, and to understand the definitions, have a look at the following illustrations:

1 Ascender height

2 mean line, x-height

3 descender depth (descender height)

The second line from below is the baseline

 

1  cap height

2  body height, font size