We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
An arrow or an underlined dimension on a ream wrapper, showing paper grain.
Also known as: Grain long, Grain short, Machine direction mark
Paper fibres align during manufacture, and the direction they lie in decides how a sheet folds, curls and takes moisture. Ream wrappers mark it by underlining the dimension that runs along the grain, or with an arrow. Folding across the grain cracks a coated board and gives a ragged edge; folding along it gives a clean one. It is invisible on the sheet, which is why the marking on the wrapper is the only evidence most people ever see.
Marks which way the fibres in a sheet lie, conventionally by underlining the dimension that runs along the grain on the ream wrapper, or by an arrow.
Contexts: News, Technical drawing
Decides whether a fold is clean or cracked: folding across the grain breaks the coating on a board and leaves a ragged edge, and folding along it does not. Since the grain is invisible in the sheet, the wrapper is the only place most people see the information.
Contexts: News, Technical drawing
A pair of dimensions printed on a wrapper with a straight line drawn under one of them, or a single arrow set beside them pointing along one axis.
Both are properties of a sheet stated on its wrapper.