fallbackcharacterset

noun

UK /ˈfɔːlbæk ˈkærəktə sɛt/

US /ˈfɔlˌbæk ˈkærəktər sɛt/

A backup group of letters and symbols a computer uses when it cannot show the normal ones.

When the fancy font was missing, the program used a fallback character set so the text still appeared.

SYNONYMS

backup character set substitute character set reserve character set alternate character set

RELATED WORDS

font fallback encoding glyph Unicode typeface

OTHER MEANINGS

2. A default set of characters chosen by software when the requested set is unavailable.

The browser applied a fallback character set to display the page correctly.

3. A secondary collection of symbols kept ready in case the main one fails.

The printer switched to its fallback character set after the main font failed to load.

4. In text rendering, the group of characters used to fill in missing glyphs.

Missing emoji were drawn from the fallback character set.