Here is a list of terms that are used in the world of print:

Bleed:
Artwork that prints off the edge of the page. Bleed varies in size from 1/4″ (0.25″) to 1/8″ (0.125″) around the edge of the page.

CMYK:
An abbreviation used to describe the four process colors – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

Coated Paper:
Paper with a clay coating that improves ink holdout. Common types of coated paper include gloss, enamel, slick, matte and dull.

Color Separation:
The process of separating a full-color original into the four primary printing colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).

Digital Printing:
A method of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media. Printing where small run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large format high volume laser or inkjet printers.

Digital Proof:
Any proof output from a digital artwork file directly to an electronic printing device (such as a Xerox).

DPI (Dots Per Inch):
A form of measurement that refers to the number of dots (or spots) that a printer can create per linear inch (for example, 300 dpi).

Emboss:
Pressing an image into paper creating an indentation onto the paper surface.

EPS (Encapsulated Postscript):
A file format used to save vector graphics for a variety of computer applications.

Font:
Typeface of a specific style.

Grain:
The direction in which fibers on a sheet of paper run. 

Gripper:
The leading edge of the paper as it passes through the press. 

Hairline:
Very thin line – the width of a hair: 1/100″ (0.01″).

Image Area:
A portion of paper on which the ink will appear.

Imposition:
The process of arranging pages on a press sheet so that they will appear in the proper sequence after the press sheets are folded and bound.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group):
A file format commonly used to save and compress photographs. Most commonly used to display photos on a web page.

LPI (Lines per inch):
Resolution term used in printing that designates the number of halftone dots per inch that are printed horizontally and vertically.

Offset Printing:
A method of printing that transfers ink from a plate to a blanket, and then from the blanket to the paper.

PDF (Portable Document Format):
A file format from that incorporates all of the elements of a document – fonts, graphics and page layout – for viewing and printing.

PMS Color (Pantone Matching System):
The standard for ink color manufacture and reproduction.

Pantone:
The standard color matching system. Colors are denoted by a number in a pantone book (such as Pantone 347).

Preflight:
A process used to check an electronic file for output on a printing device. The process involves checking for the presence of all of the high resolution graphic files, fonts, and other required elements necessary to properly print a file.

Process Color:
Refers to the CMYK color model used in offset printing.

Quotation:
A price that is offered to the customer by the printer to print a specified job.

Reverse:
Type or other image reproduced by printing the background rather than the image itself, allowing the underlying color of paper to show in the shape of the image.

RGB:
Red, Green, and Blue color space. Commonly used for viewing colors on computer monitors.

Score:
To compress the paper along a line so it will fold more easily.

Signature:
The name given to a printed sheet after it has been folded.

Spot Color:
Any color generated by an ink that is printed during a single run.

Stock:
Alternate term for paper.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format):
A portable file format used for saving bitmap images for printing.

Trap:
When two or more colors touch. Trap is the overlap allowed preventing white space from appearing between colors.

Typesetting:
The process of entering, as well as formatting, type on a page.

Up:
Positioning the same images more than once onto one sheet of paper to create a shorter press run.

UV Coating:
Liquid laminate bonded and cured with ultraviolet light.

Varnish:
A clear liquid that is applied to printed paper used to protect the product. Can be done full (or spot) color process.

Watermark:
A transparent logo put over a digital photograph, usually seen on the web.