What does “Lorem Ipsum” mean?
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.” You’ve probably seen this Latin-esque text used in typesetting or graphic design. But what does it mean, and where did it come from?
If this phrase looks familiar, it’s because it’s the traditional placeholder or “dummy” text used in typesetting and graphic design for previewing layouts. You might be surprised to learn, though, that it doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s a passage of scrambled Latin text; the intended purpose is to draw the brain away from reading the text itself and instead focus on the design of the layout.
The use of classical-language placeholder text in web design is called “greeking,” from the expression, “It’s all Greek to me.” In other words, it’s incomprehensible. Here’s the text of a standard Lorem ipsum passage (when longer text is needed, it just repeats):
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.”
A Brief History of “Lorem Ipsum”
Using Latin text as a printing placeholder began long before web design. As early as the 1500s, printers would use sections of classical works to make type-specimen books to demonstrate different fonts. Latin was chosen for this task because it was considered a lingua franca (common tongue) across Europe — far from the dead language it is today.
The exact origination of the scrambled text we know as “Lorem Ipsum” is still a bit of a mystery, but its continued use highlights its importance in the world of design and typesetting.
