The cursive alphabet
Cursive is a style of handwriting where the letters of a word are joined together in one flowing line. Each of the 26 letters has a capital and a lowercase cursive form, and most lowercase letters begin and end with a small connecting stroke so they can link to their neighbours. The letters on this site follow a traditional American school cursive, similar to what many US schools teach.
Choose any letter above to see its capital and lowercase forms, watch an animation of the strokes in the right order, read step-by-step instructions and download a free practice worksheet.
How to learn cursive letters step by step
Cursive is easier to learn when you group letters that start with the same movement. Teachers usually introduce the lowercase letters in four families:
| Letter family | Letters | Starting movement |
|---|---|---|
| Upstroke letters | i t u w r s | A short slanted upstroke from the baseline |
| Loop letters | e l b h k f | An upstroke that loops back to the left |
| Round letters | c a d g o q | A curve over the top, moving to the left (counterclockwise) |
| Hump letters | n m v x y z | A small curve up and over to the right |
Learn one family at a time, then practise joining letters from the same family (for example it, we, cat). Move on to capitals once your lowercase letters feel easy: capitals are usually only used at the start of names and sentences, so you need fewer of them every day.
Tips for neat cursive handwriting
- Slant your paper. Right-handed writers turn the paper slightly to the left; left-handed writers turn it slightly to the right.
- Keep the same slant. All downstrokes should lean in the same direction, like parallel lines.
- Watch your heights. Small letters reach the midline, tall letters (b, d, f, h, k, l, t) reach toward the top line, and letters like g, j, p, q, y, z go below the baseline.
- Don't lift your pen inside a word. Dot your i's and j's and cross your t's and x's after you finish the word.
- Practise little and often. Ten minutes a day with a worksheet is more effective than an hour once a week.
- Go slowly first. Speed comes naturally once the shapes are in your muscle memory.
How cursive letters connect
Most lowercase cursive letters end with an exit stroke at the baseline, so the next letter starts from the bottom. Four letters are different: b, o, v and w end at the midline with a small tie, so the letter after them joins higher up. Watching for these four letters is one of the quickest ways to make your joined writing look neat.
Cursive letters you can copy and paste
Handwriting fonts only work on your own device, but Unicode cursive letters can be pasted anywhere. Use the cursive text generator above to turn any text into ๐ฌ๐พ๐ป๐ผ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ or ๐ธ๐๐๐๐พ๐โฏ ๐โฏ๐๐โฏ๐๐, then copy it into Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, Discord or a document. For hundreds more styles, try the fancy text generator.
Why learn cursive?
- Speed: joining letters means fewer pen lifts, so many people write faster in cursive.
- Signatures: most signatures are based on cursive letters.
- Reading: letters, cards and historical documents are often written in cursive.
- Learning: many teachers find that handwriting practice helps children remember letters and spelling.
Cursive styles
There is more than one way to write cursive. Traditional American cursive (shown here) has loops on tall letters and decorative capitals. Other well-known handwriting programs such as Zaner-Bloser, D'Nealian and Palmer use similar lowercase letters but can differ in the shape of some capitals, for example Q, which in traditional cursive looks like the number 2. If your school teaches a different style, follow your teacher's models for those letters.