Pica (unit of measure)

This page is for the unit of measure. For the eating disorder, see Pica (disorder). For other uses of the word Pica, see Pica. A pica, , is a unit of measure in typography. It corresponds always to 1/72 of its respective foot and so to 1/6 inch. There are 12 points in the pica. The pica originated around 1785 when Françoise-Ambrose Didot (1730-1804, son of French printer François Didot), refined the typographic measuring system created by Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune (1712-68). He replaced the traditional typographic measurements of cicéro, Petit-Roman, and Gros-Text with such measurements as "ten-point", "twelve-point", etc. for his typographic designs.
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