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Cairo

An Arabic and Latin sans serif with Kufi-based Arabic, variable in weight from 200 to 1000 with a slant axis.

Sans Serif 8 styles · variable by Mohamed Gaber, Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino OFL

Download family 345 KB Type your own text

Cairo is an Arabic and Latin sans serif family by Mohamed Gaber, who added a Kufi-based Arabic to the Latin of Titillium Web. Cairo is a variable font with a weight axis from 200 to 1000 and a slant axis from -11 to 11. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits bilingual interfaces and headlines.

Cairo font preview card
Preview drawn by trendhub from the font files.

أبجد هوز حطي كلمن سعفص قرشت ثخذ ضظغ

Cairo in Arabic script: the traditional abjad letter order, set in the regular weight.
Designers
Mohamed Gaber, Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino
Classification
Sans Serif
License
SIL Open Font License 1.1
Styles
8 8 weights
Variable font
Yes Weight 200–1000, Slant -11–11
Glyphs
822
Languages checked
24 see the list
Last updated
version 3.130;gftools[0.9.24]
Used for
HeadlinesBody textInterfacesBrandingBold

Official source: Google Fonts. Facts on this page were read from the font files and the source’s published data.

Try Cairo

Sample text

Type over the sample to test your own words. The preview loads a Latin subset of Cairo; the download contains the complete files.

Cairo font specimen: alphabet, numerals and weights
Cairo specimen: alphabet, numerals and weights. Image drawn by trendhub from the font files.

Weights and styles

  • ExtraLight 200Cairo ExtraLight
  • Light 300Cairo Light
  • Regular 400Cairo Regular
  • Medium 500Cairo Medium
  • SemiBold 600Cairo SemiBold
  • Bold 700Cairo Bold
  • ExtraBold 800Cairo ExtraBold
  • Black 900Cairo Black

Cairo is a variable font: the download holds the whole weight range in one file, and the named weights above are positions on that range.

About Cairo

Cairo is a sans serif family for Arabic and Latin. Mohamed Gaber, a Cairo-based type designer, took the Latin family Titillium Web and extended it to the Arabic script with a design rooted in Kufi calligraphy; the Arabic glyph set also serves Farsi and Urdu, according to the official notes. The specimen shows the Latin side: squarish curves, open counters and compact ascenders and descenders, which keep lines tight. Cairo is a variable font with two axes, weight from 200 to 1000 and slant from -11 to 11. The named weights run from ExtraLight 200 to Black 900, and there is no separate italic file; slanted forms come from the slant axis. The font holds 822 glyphs covering Arabic, Latin and Latin Extended. The name table also credits the Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino. The license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Where Cairo works

Arabic and English websites
Arabic and Latin are designed as one family, so both directions of text share weight and proportions.
Arabic headlines
The official notes recommend the heavier weights for headlines and display typography, and the axis reaches past Black to 1000.
Body text in lighter weights
Light and Regular are named in the official notes as suited to running text.
App interfaces
Short ascenders and descenders, seen in the specimen, allow tight line spacing in lists, buttons and menus.
Farsi and Urdu content
According to the official notes, the Arabic glyph set extends to Farsi and Urdu.

Glyphs

!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~¡¢

Latin and Latin Extended characters in the preview subset; the complete family has 822 glyphs.

Language support

The family contains the core letters these languages are written with:

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • Italian
  • Dutch
  • Swedish
  • Norwegian
  • Danish
  • Finnish
  • Icelandic
  • Catalan
  • Turkish
  • Polish
  • Czech
  • Slovak
  • Hungarian
  • Romanian
  • Croatian
  • Slovenian
  • Lithuanian
  • Latvian
  • Estonian

Writing systems with glyphs in the family besides Latin: Arabic. These are listed as scripts, not as a promise for every language written in them.

Character sets found in the files: arabic, latin, latin-ext. The language list is a check of required letters against the font, not a promise of typographic quality in each language.

License

SIL Open Font License 1.1Copyright 2009 The Cairo Project Authors (https://github.com/Gue3bara/Cairo)

What the license allows

  • 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.

This is a short summary, not legal advice. The license text decides: read the full OFL text. A copy is included in the download.

Fonts that pair with Cairo

Titillium Web Sans Serif

Cairo's Latin letters were extended from Titillium Web, so the two match where a Latin-only family is enough.

Suggestions come from simple rules on the records: a contrasting classification and enough weights to carry body text. They are a starting point, not a verdict.

Use Cairo on the web

Download the family and host the files on your own site, then declare them in CSS. Please do not link to the files on trendhub.net: preview files here are subsets and their addresses change.

CSS, self-hosted
@font-face {
  font-family: "Cairo";
  src: url("/assets/fonts/Cairo-VariableFont_slnt%2Cwght.ttf") format("truetype");
  font-weight: 200 1000;
  font-style: normal;
  font-display: swap;
}

body {
  font-family: "Cairo", sans-serif;
}

Or load it from the official source. Google Fonts serves Cairo with this markup:

HTML, Google Fonts

Things to know

Weight axis reaches 1000
The heaviest named weight is Black 900, but the weight axis continues to 1000.
Slant axis instead of italics
Cairo has no italic file. A slant axis from -11 to 11 leans the letters in either direction.
One variable file
The package contains a single variable font with both axes.

FAQs

Is Cairo free for commercial use?

Cairo can be used in commercial work at no cost under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The license also permits modification and redistribution, but the font files cannot be sold on their own and derivatives must stay under the same license.

Who designed Cairo?

Cairo was designed by Mohamed Gaber, who leads the project from Cairo, Egypt. The font files also credit the Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino.

How many weights does Cairo have?

Cairo has eight named weights, from ExtraLight 200 to Black 900, and its weight axis extends to 1000.

Is Cairo a variable font?

Yes. Cairo is a variable font with a weight axis from 200 to 1000 and a slant axis from -11 to 11.

Does Cairo support Arabic?

Yes. Cairo is an Arabic and Latin family; its Arabic follows the Kufi style and, per the official notes, also serves Farsi and Urdu.

What fonts pair well with Cairo?

Cairo matches Titillium Web, because the Latin letters of Cairo were extended from that family.

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