# Benne font

> A Kannada text face with an old-style Latin, drawn to harmonise with EB Garamond, in one Regular weight.

Benne is a serif text typeface for the Kannada script developed by John Harrington, with Latin letters in an old-style manner. Benne has one Regular style and 948 glyphs, and its design is meant to sit alongside EB Garamond. It is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits Kannada and bilingual reading text.

## Facts

- Classification: [Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/serif)
- Designed by: John Harrington
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 1 (Regular 400)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 948
- Character sets: kannada, latin, latin-ext
- Last updated: 2025-09-11
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Benne
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/benne
- Tagged for: Editorial, Elegant

## About Benne

Benne is a typeface made first of all for Kannada text. Its official description says the style and weight were chosen to harmonise with EB Garamond, the open Garamond revival begun by Georg Duffner, and the Latin shown in the specimen follows that model: an old-style serif with gentle contrast, slanted stress, a small-eyed e, a long-tailed Q and old-style numerals. The font has one Regular style and is not a variable font. It holds 948 glyphs for 505 encoded characters, a ratio that reflects the many combined forms Kannada needs. Alongside Kannada it covers Latin and part of Latin Extended. John Harrington developed Benne; the font's name table gives his name as John-Daniel Harrington. The copyright belongs to The Benne Project Authors and the license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2015 The Benne Project Authors (https://github.com/googlefonts/Benne)

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **Kannada books and articles**: Benne was developed as a text face for Kannada, with weight and style set for continuous reading.
- **Kannada alongside English**: Its Latin is cut in the same old-style manner, so English words inside a Kannada paragraph do not change colour.
- **Documents typeset in EB Garamond**: Because Benne was matched to EB Garamond, Kannada passages can be added to a document already set in that family.
- **Titles and epigraphs**: The single Regular weight at a larger size works for headings above Kannada text.

## Things to know

- **Regular only**: Benne has no bold and no italic; emphasis needs another device or a companion family.
- **Old-style numerals**: The digits in the specimen rise and fall like lowercase letters.
- **Latin Extended is partial**: Letters for Polish, Hungarian and Turkish are present, but Czech and Romanian are not fully covered: the lowercase ť and the Romanian ț are missing, for example.

## FAQs

### Is Benne free for commercial use?

Yes, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Benne may be used in personal and commercial projects, changed and passed on, but it cannot be sold on its own, and derivative fonts keep the same license. Read the license text for the exact terms.

### Who designed Benne?

Benne was developed by John Harrington, listed as John-Daniel Harrington in the font's name table.

### Which script is Benne designed for?

Benne is a text font for the Kannada script. It also contains Latin letters for English and languages such as French, German, Spanish, Polish and Turkish.

### How many weights does Benne have?

Benne has one weight, Regular 400.

### What fonts pair well with Benne?

Benne was drawn to match EB Garamond, so that family is the natural partner for Latin text, italics and heavier weights.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/benne (trendhub)