What is Lorem Ipsum? History, Meaning and Why Designers Still Use It in 2026
9/23/2026 | By Ravish
If you have ever worked on a website design, a Figma mockup, or even a Word document, you must have seen this weird Latin-looking text starting with "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...".
At first, it looks like some broken Latin. But it’s not random. It’s the most used dummy text in the world for the last 50 years. Let’s understand it properly.
What is Lorem Ipsum Actually?
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text or placeholder text. It is used when you want to show the design of a page without using your real content.
In short, Lorem Ipsum is fake text that looks like real English, so your design looks complete even before the real content is ready.
You can try our free tool here: Free Lorem Ipsum Generator to generate it in seconds.
The Real History of Lorem Ipsum
This text comes from a book written by Cicero in 45 BC. The book name was "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum".
In the 1960s, a company named Letraset scrambled Cicero’s text to make it unreadable but still look like Latin. That scrambled version became what we now call Lorem Ipsum.
Why Do We Still Use Lorem Ipsum in 2026?
1. It Looks Like Real Text
It has a normal distribution of letters.
2. It Doesn’t Distract The Reader
If you use readable English, your client will start correcting the grammar.
3. It’s Neutral
It has no emotion or brand voice, so it fits everywhere.
Final Words
Lorem Ipsum is not just random text. It’s a tool that saves designers thousands of hours every year.