1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nonpareil

NONPAREIL (Fr. non, and pareil, like, Lat. par), having no equal, unrivalled. Apart from its uses as a descriptive name for particularly fine kinds of fruit, &c., and of certain birds, moths and butterflies, the chief application of the word in English is, in printing, to a size of type between “emerald” and “ruby,” in the United States of America between “minion” and “agate” (see Typography).