Body text is the primary reading text of a document, the continuous prose that carries its main content. It stands in contrast to headings, captions, display type, and other typographic elements that serve structural or supplementary roles.
The term “body” comes from the physical dimension of metal type: the body was the block of metal on which a letter sat. In digital typography, body text refers to the typeface, size, and spacing chosen for sustained reading.
On the web, body text is typically set at 16px (1rem), a size that became a de facto standard because major browsers adopted it as their default. Print conventions differ: 10-12pt is common for books and documents. The appropriate size depends on the typeface, the reading distance, and the medium.
Readability in body text depends on several interacting properties: line length (45-75 characters per line is a common guideline), line height (1.4-1.6 times the font size for body copy on screen), and sufficient contrast between text and background. Serif and sans-serif typefaces both work for body text; the choice depends on context and convention rather than any inherent readability advantage of one category over the other.
Body text accounts for the largest portion of most documents. Decisions about body type affect the reading experience more than decisions about any other typographic element, because the reader spends most of their time in it.