italic

Etymology

Named after the nation of Italy, as it was first used by an Italian printer, Aldo Manuzio, around 1500. Literally Italy + -ic.

adj

1. (typography, of a typeface or font) Designed to resemble a handwriting style developed in Italy in the 16th century.
2. (typography, of a typeface or font) Having letters that slant or lean to the right; oblique.
   The text was impossible to read: every other word was underlined or in a bold or italic font.

noun

1. (typography) A typeface in which the letters slant to the right.
   Names of vessels, as the Kearsarge or the Alabama, are frequently put in italic. 1902, Theodore Low DeVinne, The Practice of Typography: Correct Composition, page 104
   […] ROBERT GRANJON, possibly in collaboration with CLAUDE GARAMOND, had created an italic which matched Garamond Roman. 1983, Ida M. Kimber, The Art of Lettering, translation of original by Albert Kapr, page 329
2. An oblique handwriting style, such as used by Italian calligraphers of the Renaissance.
   Spenser uses two different scripts: an Elizabethan secretary hand for English texts, and an italic 'mixed' with secretary graphs for Latin texts […] 1990, Albert Charles Hamilton, The Spenser Encyclopedia, page 345