The word ”sans” means “without” in French, so sans-serif typefaces are those without serifs on the ends of the strokes. Sans-serif typefaces are almost always “mono weight” meaning there is virtually no visible thick/thin transition in the strokes; the letter forms are the same thickness all the way round. The first sans-serifs were issued in Britain in 1816. The first of these typefaces were considered awkward and unappealing since they lack the traditional serif. Therefore, they were called Grotesque. A hundred years later, in the 1920's, they were again in demand by the Bauhaus movement and are still very popular in current day design.