## Graphics Adapter Device Driver Reference

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### Glossary - K

K

kanji - A graphic character set consisting of symbols used in Japanese ideographic alphabets. Each character is represented by 2 bytes.

kernel - (1) The part of an operating system that performs basic functions such as allocating hardware resources. (2) A program that can run under different operating system environments.

kerning - The design of graphic characters so that their character boxes overlap. The toned picture elements (pels) of the character appear outside the character cell.

Note: Kerning allows character boxes to overlap and characters to run together, so that characters can be designed for cursive languages, ligatures, or any other kind of character that requires more than one character box. It also allows for design of proportional-spaced fonts. By overlapping character boxes, characters can be placed closer together, or they can be placed farther apart by using overlapped blank character boxes.