What Is Lorem Ipsum? Everything You Need to Know About the Placeholder Text
A beginner-friendly explanation of lorem ipsum: what it is, why it's used, its origin from Cicero, and the meaning of the scrambled Latin words.
Lorem ipsum is a dummy or placeholder text commonly used in graphic design, publishing, and web development. It is typically a corrupted version of De finibus bonorum et malorum, a 1st-century BC text by the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero. The text is deliberately scrambled so as not to distract from the page’s graphical features.
Lorem ipsum lets designers focus on visual elements
Designers use Lorem ipsum to focus on visual elements like typography, layout, spacing, and color without being distracted by meaningful words. Because the text is deliberately garbled, it helps clients and stakeholders judge a design on its visual merits rather than its content. This practice is standard in mockups, wireframes, and CMS templates.
The origin traces back to Cicero and a Renaissance printer
The Lorem ipsum text is derived from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of Cicero’s De finibus bonorum et malorum. The physical source may have been the 1914 Loeb Classical Library edition, where the Latin text breaks off on page 34 with “Neque porro quisquam est qui do-” and continues on page 36 with “lorem ipsum …” Lorem ipsum. Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar at Hampden-Sydney College, first connected the placeholder to Cicero’s writing sometime before 1982.
He theorized that a 16th-century typesetter snatched up a page of Cicero to make a type specimen book and turned it into nonsense, choosing the text to be insensible so as not to distract from the page’s graphical features The Story of Lorem Ipsum.
The text became popular through Letraset and Aldus PageMaker
Versions of Lorem ipsum have been used in typesetting since the late 1960s, when Letraset transfer sheets containing the placeholder text popularized it. The text was originally known as “Forum ipsum” and had become garbled by typesetters since the mid-1500s The Strange History of Lorem Ipsum. According to Letraset designer Dave Farey, the text was supplied by British librarian James Mosley as an alternative to the “Quousque tandem abutere” text from elsewhere in Cicero’s writings Lorem ipsum.
Laura Perry, the former creative director at Aldus, first made Lorem ipsum digital by manually entering it into PageMaker off a Letraset sheet, making occasional typos along the way.
What the words actually mean
The first two words are a truncation of “dolorem ipsum” (“pain itself”) Lorem ipsum. The word “Lorem” is a piece of the word “dolorem,” meaning pain, suffering, or sorrow The Story of Lorem Ipsum. The text does not form real Latin sentences; it is deliberately garbled to avoid distracting readers. Richard McClintock’s research established that the scrambling was likely done by a Renaissance printer specifically to prevent readers from getting distracted [What Is Lorem Ipsum?
The Real History](https://xerobit.dev/blog/what-is-lorem-ipsum/). Monotype typographer Dan Rhatigan theorized that the Letraset version deliberately “garbled” the original Latin text to better match the letter frequency of the English language.
The text has survived nearly unchanged for centuries
The body of Lorem ipsum has survived not only four centuries of letter-by-letter resetting but even the leap into electronic typesetting, essentially unchanged The Story of Lorem Ipsum. Popular word processors like Pages and Microsoft Word have since adopted Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum. McClintock first published his discovery in a 1994 letter to John McWade, the editor of the Before & After magazine. However, McClintock later admitted that the earlier claim that the placeholder text had been used since the 1500s was a guess with no evidence to back it up.
Key points about lorem ipsum
- It is a dummy text that does not form Latin sentences.
- Its purpose is to let designers focus on visuals.
- It comes from a corrupted Cicero passage.
- The first two words mean “pain itself”.
- It was popularized by Letraset in the 1960s and later by Aldus PageMaker.
- The garbling was intentional to prevent distraction.
Frequently asked questions
What is lorem ipsum?
Lorem ipsum is a dummy or placeholder text used in graphic design, publishing, and web development. It is a scrambled version of a 1st-century BC Latin text by Cicero, used to fill space so designers can focus on layout and typography.
Why is lorem ipsum used?
Designers use lorem ipsum to avoid distraction from meaningful content. It allows clients and stakeholders to judge a design solely on visual elements like spacing, fonts, and colors, without being influenced by the written words.
Where does lorem ipsum come from?
The text originates from Cicero's 'De finibus bonorum et malorum', written in 45 BC. It was likely first used as a type specimen by a Renaissance printer and later popularized by Letraset transfer sheets in the 1960s and Aldus PageMaker in the 1980s.
What do the words lorem ipsum mean?
The first two words are a truncation of 'dolorem ipsum', which translates to 'pain itself'. 'Lorem' is a piece of 'dolorem', meaning pain or sorrow. The rest of the passage is scrambled and does not form coherent Latin.
Is lorem ipsum real Latin?
No, it is not real Latin. The text is deliberately garbled from Cicero's original to make it nonsensical. This was done intentionally so that readers would not be distracted by the meaning of the words.
Who discovered the origin of lorem ipsum?
Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar at Hampden-Sydney College, traced the text back to Cicero's writing sometime before 1982. He published his discovery in a 1994 letter to the editor of 'Before & After' magazine.
When was lorem ipsum first used digitally?
Laura Perry, creative director at Aldus, manually entered the text into PageMaker from a Letraset sheet in the 1980s, making occasional typos. This made lorem ipsum widely available in desktop publishing software.
Why is lorem ipsum scrambled?
The scrambling was intentional. A Renaissance printer likely chose a nonsensical version of Cicero's text to prevent readers from getting distracted by the meaning, a practice that continued through Letraset and into digital type specimens.