Traditional Chinese · Song (serif)明體
Noto Serif HK
Noto Serif HK is a free Song font for Traditional Chinese by Google, on Google Fonts since 2022. It draws 17,678 Chinese characters, and the English alphabet, in 8 weights, 200–900. The same design as Adobe's Source Han Serif HC, which Adobe and Google drew together.
天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
01 / Characters
Characters of everyday words
The characters Chinese readers learn first, set in Noto Serif HK.
Traditional characters 漢字
Each with its pinyin and meaning
- 永yǒng · eternal
- 天tiān · sky
- 日rì · sun
- 月yuè · moon
- 山shān · mountain
- 水shuǐ · water
- 火huǒ · fire
- 木mù · tree
- 金jīn · gold
- 土tǔ · earth
- 風fēng · wind
- 雲yún · cloud
- 雨yǔ · rain
- 花huā · flower
- 春chūn · spring
- 人rén · person
- 心xīn · heart
- 愛ài · love
- 夢mèng · dream
- 龍lóng · dragon
- 馬mǎ · horse
- 鳥niǎo · bird
- 魚yú · fish
- 飛fēi · fly
- 門mén · gate
- 國guó · country
- 東dōng · east
- 學xué · learn
- 書shū · book
- 字zì · character
02 / Text
As running text
The opening of Lu Xun’s My Old Home (1921), in Traditional characters.
我冒了嚴寒，回到相隔二千餘里，別了二十餘年的故鄉去。時候既然是深冬；漸近故鄉時，天氣又陰晦了，冷風吹進船艙中，嗚嗚的響，從篷隙向外一望，蒼黃的天底下，遠近橫著幾個蕭索的荒村，沒有一些活氣。
我冒了嚴寒，回到相隔二千餘里，別了二十餘年的故鄉去。時候既然是深冬；漸近故鄉時，天氣又陰晦了，冷風吹進船艙中，嗚嗚的響，從篷隙向外一望，蒼黃的天底下，遠近橫著幾個蕭索的荒村，沒有一些活氣。
我冒了嚴寒，回到相隔二千餘里，別了二十餘年的故鄉去。時候既然是深冬；漸近故鄉時，天氣又陰晦了，冷風吹進船艙中，嗚嗚的響，從篷隙向外一望，蒼黃的天底下，遠近橫著幾個蕭索的荒村，沒有一些活氣。
03 / Weights
8 weights
200–900 · one variable file
- ExtraLight · 200天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- Light · 300天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- Regular · 400天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- Medium · 500天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- SemiBold · 600天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- Bold · 700天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- ExtraBold · 800天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
- Black · 900天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
04 / Facts
What it covers
- Characters
- 17,678
- More than the 13,053 of Big5, the standard set
- Set
- Hong Kong
- Traditional, in Hong Kong’s own forms
- Weights
- 8
- 200–900, in one variable file
- Vertical text
- Yes
- Vertical forms of its own, OpenType’s vert
- Font file
- 16.0 MB
- Its variable file: Google serves it in slices
- Licence
- OFL 1.1
- Free for commercial use
Designed by Google. On Google Fonts since 2022, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
LatinIt draws the English alphabet too, as in its name:Noto Serif HK
- Noto Serif TC17,677 characters8 weights
- Cactus Classical Serif54,713 characters1 weight (400)
- Chiron Sung HK31,584 characters8 weights
- UoqMunThenKhung7,932 characters1 weight (400)
- GenYo Min TW29,986 characters7 weights
- GenWan Min TW29,986 characters5 weights
All 47 Chinese fonts →The Song (Ming) fonts for Simplified Chinese →Japanese, Chinese and Korean fonts →
06 / Questions
Questions about Noto Serif HK
Answered from its licence and its font file
Is Noto Serif HK free for commercial use?
Yes. Noto Serif HK is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 , which allows commercial use at any scale: print, websites, apps, videos and logos, for clients and in products. What it forbids is selling the font file on its own.
How do I download and install Noto Serif HK?
FontKind doesn’t host Noto Serif HK’s files: it comes free from Google Fonts . On its page there, choose Get font, then Download all, and unzip the file: it holds one variable file for every weight, and a static folder with a file per weight: install one set or the other, not both. On Windows or a Mac, double-click each font file and choose Install, then restart any app that was open.
Is Noto Serif HK Simplified or Traditional Chinese?
Traditional, as Hong Kong writes it: Noto Serif HK follows Hong Kong’s own forms of the characters where they differ from Taiwan’s, 17,678 characters in all. For the other set, see the Song (Ming) fonts for Simplified Chinese.
How do I use Noto Serif HK on a website?
Through Google Fonts: its stylesheet cuts Noto Serif HK into about a hundred small files by character, and a browser downloads only those holding the characters a page shows, never the whole 16.0 MB variable file. To host it yourself, cut it down to the characters your pages use, a step called subsetting, and serve it as WOFF2: the SIL Open Font License allows that, under a name of your own if the font reserves its name.
Can Noto Serif HK set vertical text?
Yes: Noto Serif HK’s file has vertical forms, the OpenType vert feature, so in a vertical line its commas, full stops and brackets turn and move as they should. On a web page, CSS writing-mode: vertical-rl sets a block vertically; Word, InDesign and Illustrator have vertical text of their own.
Can I use Noto Serif HK in a game or an app?
Yes. The SIL Open Font License lets you build Noto Serif HK into a game, an app or an e-book, sold or free, with no separate licence to buy, as many paid fonts require. Ship its licence with the font files, and don’t sell the font on its own.
How many weights does Noto Serif HK have?
Noto Serif HK comes in eight weights, from ExtraLight (200) to Black (900). Its file is variable: it takes any weight from 200 to 900.
Does Noto Serif HK have English letters?
Yes: Noto Serif HK draws all 52 letters of the English alphabet, so a line that mixes Chinese and English can stay in one font.
Who designed Noto Serif HK?
Noto Serif HK was designed by Google. It has been on Google Fonts since May 2022.
What fonts are similar to Noto Serif HK?
The most used Traditional Chinese Song fonts besides Noto Serif HK are Noto Serif TC, Cactus Classical Serif and Chiron Sung HK. See every Song (Ming) font for Traditional Chinese.