Lorem Ipsum Generator
Generate placeholder text in paragraphs, sentences or words.
What Is Lorem Ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is placeholder text based on a work by the Roman philosopher Cicero, written in 45 BC. The original text comes from "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (On the Extremes of Good and Evil). Over the centuries, the Latin was scrambled and modified into the nonsensical text we use today. The word "lorem" itself is actually a chopped-up version of "dolorem," meaning pain.
A Quick History
In the 1960s, a company called Letraset used Lorem Ipsum on their dry-transfer lettering sheets. That's what made it popular in the design world. Then in the 1980s, Aldus Corporation included it in PageMaker templates, bringing it into the digital age. A Latin scholar named Richard McClintock later traced the text back to Cicero by spotting the unusual word "consectetur" in the passage.
Why Not Just Use Real Text?
Placeholder text keeps clients and stakeholders focused on the design instead of getting distracted by content. Lorem Ipsum mimics the rhythm of natural language without being readable, so layouts look realistic during the mockup phase. If you used "test test test" or random characters, the design wouldn't look right.
Fun Alternatives
Tired of the same old Latin? There are themed generators out there. Bacon Ipsum uses meat-related words. Cupcake Ipsum is all desserts. There are generators themed around Star Wars, Breaking Bad, pirates and zombies. They're fun for internal prototypes, but stick with classic Lorem Ipsum for client presentations.
How to Use
- Choose the type: paragraphs, sentences or words.
- Set how many you want to generate.
- Click Generate.
- Copy the placeholder text into your project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Lorem Ipsum actually mean?
It comes from Cicero's "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" written in 45 BC. The text has been scrambled over centuries so it doesn't have a coherent meaning anymore. "Lorem" is a truncated form of "dolorem" which means "pain" in Latin.
Why not use real content instead of placeholder text?
Placeholder text prevents people from reading and critiquing content during the design phase. It keeps the focus on layout, typography and visual design. Lorem Ipsum looks like natural language, so designs look realistic without readable distractions.
Does it always start with "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet"?
The first paragraph always opens with the traditional phrase - it's the convention designers expect - and the rest follows the classic pattern.
What is "greeking" in design?
Greeking is the old design term for using placeholder text. Before computers, designers drew squiggly lines to represent text, and since it looked like unreadable characters, they called it "greeking" - as in "it's all Greek to me." The name stuck even though Lorem Ipsum is Latin, not Greek.
Are there alternatives to Lorem Ipsum?
Bacon Ipsum, Cupcake Ipsum, Pirate Ipsum and dozens of other themed generators exist, and they're fun for internal mockups. Some designers skip placeholder text entirely and use realistic content matching the project topic.