Return to Scale View
About News Create With Us
Return to Scale View

How big is a Twip?

A Twip is 17.6 micrometers

Introduction: What is a Twip?

Have you ever stopped to consider the minuscule measurements that make up the world around us? One such measurement is the twip, a tiny unit used for typography. The term “twip” is short for “twentieth of a point”, or in some cases, “twentieth of an inch point”. It’s a fascinating concept that such a tiny unit can have such a significant impact on the words we read every day.

The Size of a Twip

When it comes to size, a twip is incredibly small. A single twip is defined as 1/20 of a typographical point. To put this into perspective, there are 1440 twips in just one inch. In other words, one twip is 1/1440 inch. If we were to convert this into micrometers, a unit of length in the metric system, a twip measures in at approximately 17.64 μm.

Size Comparison: Twip Vs. Other Units

To truly grasp how small a twip is, let’s compare it to some other common units of measurement:

  • Human Hair: The average thickness of a human hair ranges from 17,000 to 181,000 micrometers. A single twip is 17.64 micrometers, which means you would need about 964 twips to equal the thickness of the thinnest human hair!
  • Grain of Sand: The size of a grain of sand varies, but it can be anywhere from 62,500 to 2,000,000 micrometers. In comparison, a twip is incredibly tiny.
  • Typographical Point: As mentioned before, a twip is 1/20 of a typographical point. That means 20 twips make up a single point.

The Importance of Twips

Despite its small size, a twip plays a crucial role in typography and digital design. It’s used as a unit of measurement in several computer applications, including Microsoft Word and Excel. For example, when you’re adjusting the size of the text or the width of a column in Excel, you’re essentially working with twips.

Interesting Facts about Twips

  • The concept of a twip was introduced by Microsoft to ensure the consistent display of screen elements across different devices.
  • Twips offer a high level of accuracy in layout and design work, making it possible to align text and graphics with precision.
  • A twip is device-independent. This means it maintains the same size regardless of the resolution of the device it’s displayed on. In conclusion, the twip may be a small unit of measurement, but it’s a powerful tool in the world of typography and digital design. Its precision and consistency make it indispensable in ensuring the clear and accurate display of text and graphics on various devices.
Smaller By Category
Infrared Wavelength
Things that are extremely rare are "inf-rare". (infinitely rare). Inf-rare is also a verb, meaning "to make inf-rare". (e.g., "John inf-rared the precious food by eating the last of it.") Infrared light used to be quite common, but one day, a scientist somehow "infrared" it.
Width of Silk Fiber
Silk is valuable and can be woven into clothing, which usually turns out quite soft. Silk is made by silkworm larvae, which I think are pretty gross. But there's also synthetic silk, which is not made from disgusting creepy-crawlies.
White Blood Cell
These mass murderers are also known as leukocytes. There are many different types of this disease-fighting cell. The most common type, the neutrophil, has multiple nuclei. The largest type, the macrophage, has a diameter of a whopping 21 µm.
Larger By Category
Thou
Although the word "thou" is most commonly known as being an old form of the word "you", a thou is also a unit of measurement. It is equal to one thousandth of an inch; in fact, that's where it gets its name. THOUsandth. Pretty cool.
Skin Cell
The outermost layer of skin, which is also the only visible layer of skin, is made up of dead cells. That's because dead cells are the strongest, and stronger skin provides more protection! These cells continuously fall off. In fact, dust is 95% dead skin cells!
Silt Particle
According to the Udden-Wentworth scale, silt particles vary from the smallest of 1/256 mm to the largest of 1/16 mm. This silt particle to the right falls into that range quite well.