Reverse Italic, Backslanted, Cilati

Ermin Međedović · February 15

I’m working on a sans-serif typeface, and since the italic is simply a corrected slanted version, I decided to include a backslanted style as well.

Now, I’m unsure about the naming—should I go with Slanted and Backslanted, or perhaps Italic and Cilati? The latter has a playful twist, but Cilati sounds quite terrible in Italian, and I’m not sure how many graphic designers would recognize this unconventional naming. On the other hand, Backslanted feels like a rather long name for a style.

I’d greatly appreciate your thoughts and advice on this.

Florian Hardwig · February 15

Other traditional terms include reverse italic, contra italic, and reclined – but these aren’t any shorter than Backslanted.

Cilati (“Italic” backwards) is the name of an italic script, P22 Cilati. Ohno then used the term to designate Swear’s italic styles with reverse contrast (not slant). Cilati as term for left-leaning italics was used for Theodor and Flounder.

The original 2011 release of LL Brown had Reclining styles. Coperto and Arkias use Recline, while Pangram Sans uses Reclined. GT Planar goes for Retalic. Ano has Back Italic, and Origin Super Condensed, Grtsk, Loire and Nickel Gothic have Backslant. Totentanz, Magnet, Supergravity, Inge, Münchenstein Display, F37 Britain Condensed, CoFo Peshka and Blak all use Backslanted. FK Screamer Legacy additionally offers Semibackslanted.

Bourrasque has 45 Ouest and 45 Est. Maybe that’s a direction for something that is both short and quickly understandable (once one has seen it)? West and East. Or even Right and Left. Most concise, but also a bit more obscure: Fwd and Bwd.

John Butler · February 15

H&erstwhileFJ’s Turbo is “contra italic.”

John Hudson · February 16

Did someone say gelati?

Simon Cozens · February 16

"Linkskursiv" is the same length as "Backslanted" but considerably more fun.

John Hudson · February 16

I don’t have any plans to make a left-slanting italic, but if I were to, I would call the variant ‘Sinister’.

Ermin Međedović · February 16

John Hudson said:

Did someone say gelati?

I’m hearing Cilantro (coriander) instead of gelato : )

Croats and Slovenians have quite a few words borrowed and domesticated from Italian, and living here without strict borders has its charm—grabbing a morning coffee in Trieste (IT), enjoying lunch in Grožnjan (CRO), and ending the day with dinner back home in Ljubljana (SLO) some weekends isn’t all that rare. Small pleasures.

Andreas Stötzner · February 16

“back home” !

“Slovenic” ?

Ermin Međedović · February 16

Andreas Stötzner said:

“back home” !

“Slovenic” ?

I'm a native-born Croat and have been living in Ljubljana for almost 30 years now.

Joshua Langman · February 24

"Reverse italic" already has a well-established meaning among editors and typographers. Reverse italic refers to a passage set in roman type within an otherwise italic context.

Ermin Međedović · February 25

Joshua Langman said:

"Reverse italic" already has a well-established meaning among editors and typographers. Reverse italic refers to a passage set in roman type within an otherwise italic context.

Thanks, Joshua. I’ve decided to go with Retalic. It’s short, sounds nice (to me), and I think both users and experts will undoubtedly associate it with the term Reverse Italic.

Florian Hardwig · February 25

Thanks for the follow-up, Ermin.

Above, I mentioned that GT Planar (2022) uses Retalic. This term was already used in 2016 for Misha Panfilov’s Ogonyok.

TypeType also used it for their TT Biersal (2024). They recently blogged about “retalics” – and included a range of historical examples.

The additional benefit of this term is that it ryhmes with “Rotalic”, a concept that’s also explained in the blog post.

Ermin Međedović · February 25

Florian Hardwig said:

Thanks for the follow-up, Ermin.

Thank you too, Florian, for all the information you’re sharing here. The article on Retalics by TypeType is an excellent find.

Florian Hardwig · February 26

"Reverse italic" already has a well-established meaning among editors and typographers

Thanks, Joshua, that’s interesting.
The other meaning of the term – for left-leaning italics – is not new, and has been used in technical and historical contexts. The earliest occurrence I’m aware of is in a 1922 issue of the Inland Printer, in reference to Pen Print.

Reverse Italic, Backslanted, Cilati

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