Cairo

sans-serif · Designed by Mohamed Gaber, Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino

Cairo: A quick movement of the enemy will jeopardize five gunboats

Available weights

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What do I do with this?

Just want to use the font? Click "Get this font on Google Fonts" to download it or add it directly to a document, design tool (like Canva or Photoshop), or your computer's font list.

Building a website? Click "Copy Font Code" to copy a short snippet, then paste it into your website's HTML (usually inside the <head> section) to use this font on your site.

Cairo is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed to support both Latin and Arabic scripts, making it one of the more versatile multilingual fonts available. Its letterforms are clean and modern, built on rounded, open shapes with consistent stroke widths that give it a friendly but professional tone. The Latin characters carry a slight warmth that prevents them from feeling cold or mechanical, while still maintaining enough structure to work at smaller sizes without losing clarity. It sits somewhere between a humanist and geometric sans-serif, which gives it broad appeal without being generic.

Cairo works well for digital products that need to reach Arabic and Latin-speaking audiences simultaneously, making it a practical choice for apps, government portals, or e-commerce platforms operating across the Middle East and North Africa. It also performs well as a UI font for dashboards and SaaS products where readability across sizes matters more than typographic flair. For editorial use, Cairo holds up in headline and subheading roles where you want something contemporary and legible without leaning into the neutrality of something like Inter or Roboto.

Best suited for: Consider Cairo for multilingual digital interfaces, responsive web applications, and editorial layouts requiring simultaneous Latin and Arabic support with modern clarity.

Design considerations: Cairo's eight weight options from 200 to 900 enable flexible typographic hierarchies across different screen sizes and print contexts. The geometric foundation with humanist warmth suits both functional UI environments and contemporary editorial design without sacrificing legibility at any scale.

Pairing guidance: Pair Cairo with Playfair Display to anchor headlines with serif contrast and editorial sophistication, use Lato as a secondary sans-serif for extended body text or supporting information, and reserve Pacifico for accent elements or display purposes where handwritten warmth complements Cairo's geometric structure.

Pairs well with

Playfair Display Lato Pacifico

Cairo at a glance

Designer

Mohamed Gaber, Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino

License

SIL Open Font License 1.1

Added to Google Fonts

June 2016

Last updated

September 2025

Styles

9 (9 weights)

Variable font

Yes: slant -11–11, weight 200–1000

Classification

Sans Serif

Character sets

3

Distributed via

Google Fonts

All 9 Cairo styles

Weight Name Upright
200 ExtraLight Aa Bb Gg 123
300 Light Aa Bb Gg 123
400 Regular Aa Bb Gg 123
500 Medium Aa Bb Gg 123
600 SemiBold Aa Bb Gg 123
700 Bold Aa Bb Gg 123
800 ExtraBold Aa Bb Gg 123
900 Black Aa Bb Gg 123
1000 ExtraBlack Aa Bb Gg 123

Cairo character map

Uppercase

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Lowercase

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Numbers and punctuation

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ! ? & @ # % $ € £ ( ) [ ] { } . , : ; " ' - / * + =

Arabic (sample)

ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي

Latin Extended (sample)

Ā Ă Ą Ć Č Ď Đ Ē Ę Ě Ğ Ī Į İ Ĺ Ľ Ł Ń Ň Ő Œ Ř Ś Ş Š Ť Ů Ű Ź Ż Ž

Which languages does Cairo support?

Cairo includes 3 character sets:

  • Arabic: Arabic, Persian and Urdu
  • Latin: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and other Western European languages
  • Latin Extended: Central and Eastern European languages such as Polish, Czech, Turkish, Romanian and Hungarian

It does not include Cyrillic or Greek characters, so it can't set Russian, Ukrainian or Greek text.

Can I use Cairo commercially?

Yes, it's free for personal and commercial use. Cairo is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. You can use it in logos, websites, apps, videos, printed products and merchandise without paying or asking permission. The one thing you can't do is sell the font file on its own.

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Cairo FAQ

Is Cairo free for commercial use?

Yes. Cairo is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, so you can use it in commercial projects, including logos, client work and products you sell.

Which weights does Cairo include?

Cairo includes 9 weights, from ExtraLight (200) to ExtraBlack (1000). There are no italic styles. It's also a variable font, so any weight between 200 and 1000 is available.

Does Cairo support Cyrillic?

No. Cairo supports Arabic, Latin and Latin Extended, but not Cyrillic.

Who designed Cairo?

Cairo was designed by Mohamed Gaber, Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino. It was added to Google Fonts in June 2016.