What is the purpose of the font-family property?

The font-family property is a CSS property that is used to define the font to be used for an HTML element's text. It is used to specify a prioritized list of font family names and/or generic family names for an element. If the browser doesn't have the first font in the list, it tries the next one and so on, until it finds a font that is available on the system.

For example, consider the following code:

body {
 font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}

This specifies that the font used for the body text should be Arial if available. If Arial is not available, it should try Helvetica. If Helvetica is not available, it should use a generic sans-serif font.

The font-family property can be applied to any HTML element that contains text, including headings, paragraphs, and lists. It can also be used to specify different fonts for different languages or scripts.