but i did not shoot the superscript

www.therejectionist.com

a serif is a little tail added to the limbs of letters (example). knowing this explains why many fonts are referred to as "sans-serif" meaning, in latin, "without serifs."

font types with serifs are also commonly referred to as 'roman' fonts (e.g. times new roman) while sans-serif fonts are sometimes referred to as 'gothic' or 'grotesque' (e.g. century gothic or arial)

interesting tidbits - sans-serif fonts are typically used for headlines while serif fonts are used for body text because the serifs help guide eyes consistently across one line. however, the internet has made sans-serif body text much more common because serifs often rendered weirdly on low resolution or slow refresh rate screens.