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Simplified Chinese · Song (serif)宋体

Noto Serif SC

永: 永 · Yǒng, “eternal”: its strokes are the brush’s eight

Noto Serif SC is a free Song font for Simplified Chinese by Google, on Google Fonts since 2018. It draws 27,801 Chinese characters, and the English alphabet, in 8 weights, 200–900. The same design as Adobe's Source Han Serif SC, which Adobe and Google drew together.

Get it on Google Fonts Every character

天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒

The opening of the Thousand Character Classic · Regular 400

01 / Characters

Characters of everyday words

The characters Chinese readers learn first, set in Noto Serif SC.

Simplified characters 汉字

Each with its pinyin and meaning

  1. 永yǒng · eternal
  2. 天tiān · sky
  3. 日rì · sun
  4. 月yuè · moon
  5. 山shān · mountain
  6. 水shuǐ · water
  7. 火huǒ · fire
  8. 木mù · tree
  9. 金jīn · gold
  10. 土tǔ · earth
  11. 风fēng · wind
  12. 云yún · cloud
  13. 雨yǔ · rain
  14. 花huā · flower
  15. 春chūn · spring
  16. 人rén · person
  17. 心xīn · heart
  18. 爱ài · love
  19. 梦mèng · dream
  20. 龙lóng · dragon
  21. 马mǎ · horse
  22. 鸟niǎo · bird
  23. 鱼yú · fish
  24. 飞fēi · fly
  25. 门mén · gate
  26. 国guó · country
  27. 东dōng · east
  28. 学xué · learn
  29. 书shū · book
  30. 字zì · character

02 / Text

As running text

The opening of Lu Xun’s My Old Home (1921).

我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。

Set large

我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。

At reading size · 16 px

我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。

Set vertically

03 / Weights

8 weights

200–900 · one variable file

  • ExtraLight · 200天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Light · 300天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Regular · 400天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Medium · 500天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • SemiBold · 600天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Bold · 700天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • ExtraBold · 800天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Black · 900天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒

04 / Facts

What it covers

Characters
27,801
More than the 6,763 of GB 2312, the standard set
Set
Simplified
As mainland China and Singapore write
Weights
8
200–900, in one variable file
Vertical text
Yes
Vertical forms of its own, OpenType’s vert
Font file
24.0 MB
Its variable file: Google serves it in slices
Licence
OFL 1.1
Free for commercial use

Designed by Google. On Google Fonts since 2018, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Get it on Google Fonts Its licence file

LatinIt draws the English alphabet too, as in its name:Noto Serif SC

05 / Song (Ming)

More Song Simplified Chinese fonts

Every Song (Ming) font for Simplified Chinese →

All 47 Chinese fonts →The Song (Ming) fonts for Traditional Chinese →Japanese, Chinese and Korean fonts →

06 / Questions

Questions about Noto Serif SC

Answered from its licence and its font file

Is Noto Serif SC free for commercial use?

Yes. Noto Serif SC 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 SC?

FontKind doesn’t host Noto Serif SC’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 SC Simplified or Traditional Chinese?

Simplified: Noto Serif SC draws the Simplified forms written in mainland China and Singapore, 27,801 characters in all. For the other set, see the Song (Ming) fonts for Traditional Chinese.

How do I use Noto Serif SC on a website?

Through Google Fonts: its stylesheet cuts Noto Serif SC into about a hundred small files by character, and a browser downloads only those holding the characters a page shows, never the whole 24.0 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 SC set vertical text?

Yes: Noto Serif SC’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 SC in a game or an app?

Yes. The SIL Open Font License lets you build Noto Serif SC 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 SC have?

Noto Serif SC 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 SC have English letters?

Yes: Noto Serif SC 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 SC?

Noto Serif SC was designed by Google. It has been on Google Fonts since December 2018.

What fonts are similar to Noto Serif SC?

The most used Simplified Chinese Song fonts besides Noto Serif SC are ZCOOL XiaoWei and Zhuque Fangsong. See every Song (Ming) font for Simplified Chinese.