Traditional Chinese · Song (serif)明體
Noto Serif TC
Noto Serif TC is a free Song font for Traditional Chinese by Google, on Google Fonts since 2018. It draws 17,677 Chinese characters, and the English alphabet, in 8 weights, 200–900. The same design as Adobe's Source Han Serif TC, 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 TC.
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
- 17,677
- More than the 13,053 of Big5, the standard set
- Set
- Traditional
- As Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau write
- Weights
- 8
- 200–900, in one variable file
- Vertical text
- Yes
- Vertical forms of its own, OpenType’s vert
- Font file
- 16.1 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.
LatinIt draws the English alphabet too, as in its name:Noto Serif TC
- Noto Serif HK17,678 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 TC
Answered from its licence and its font file
Is Noto Serif TC free for commercial use?
Yes. Noto Serif TC 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 TC?
FontKind doesn’t host Noto Serif TC’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 TC Simplified or Traditional Chinese?
Traditional: Noto Serif TC draws the Traditional forms written in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, 17,677 characters in all. For the other set, see the Song (Ming) fonts for Simplified Chinese.
How do I use Noto Serif TC on a website?
Through Google Fonts: its stylesheet cuts Noto Serif TC into about a hundred small files by character, and a browser downloads only those holding the characters a page shows, never the whole 16.1 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 TC set vertical text?
Yes: Noto Serif TC’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 TC in a game or an app?
Yes. The SIL Open Font License lets you build Noto Serif TC 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 TC have?
Noto Serif TC 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 TC have English letters?
Yes: Noto Serif TC 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 TC?
Noto Serif TC was designed by Google. It has been on Google Fonts since December 2018.
What fonts are similar to Noto Serif TC?
The most used Traditional Chinese Song fonts besides Noto Serif TC are Noto Serif HK, Cactus Classical Serif and Chiron Sung HK. See every Song (Ming) font for Traditional Chinese.