Cursive
A flowing penmanship style for faster writing.
Cursive, also called joined-up writing, is a way of writing where the letters in a word flow together, usually to make writing quicker than printing in block letters. How it works and where it's used varies by language and region; it shows up in formal documents and art as well as in personal notes. In formal cursive, letters are almost always connected, but casual cursive mixes connections with occasional pen lifts. This style can be sorted into looped, italic, or connected forms.
Because you don't have to lift the pen as often, cursive allows for faster writing in many alphabets. However, more decorative or calligraphic versions can actually be slower. In some writing systems—like Arabic, Syriac, Latin, and Cyrillic—most or all letters in a word are linked, sometimes forming one continuous stroke. In ancient Roman cursive, letters were connected, and modern Hebrew cursive typically connects letters as well. The Marathi language once used a cursive alphabet called the Modi script.
**Subclasses**
*Ligature* means writing words with lines joining the letters so you don't have to lift the pen between them. Some letters are written with loops to make these connections easier. In modern printed Greek, the term "cursive" is used for italic typefaces, not for a specific set of small letter fonts.
*Looped cursive* is what most English speakers mean by "cursive." Ascenders and descenders have loops that help letters link. In this style, lowercase t is taller, v and w are rounder, and lowercase x connects at the baseline.
*Italic cursive* comes from chancery cursive and uses non-looped joins; not all letters are joined. There are no joins from g, j, q, or y, and some other joins are discouraged. This style became popular during the 15th-century Italian Renaissance. Don't confuse it with italic type in printed text. Most Renaissance handwriting had joins, much like today's cursive italic.
**Origins**
Cursive developed because it was faster and required fewer pen lifts, which worked well with quills. Quills are fragile, break easily, and spatter if used wrong; they also run out of ink faster than modern pens. Steel dip pens came later—sturdier but still limiting. Cursive also helped make documents unique (like a signature) compared to machine-made fonts, and the writing tool rarely left the paper.
- Field
- Penmanship
- Known for
- Joined-up writing for speed and flow
- Origin term
- Middle French cursif from Medieval Latin cursivus, meaning 'running'
- Scripts used
- Arabic, Syriac, Latin, Cyrillic, Bengali, Hebrew, Roman
- Subclasses
- Ligature, Looped, Italic
Lore & Background
The origins of the cursive method are associated with the practical advantages of writing speed and infrequent pen-lifting to accommodate the limitations of the quill. Quills are fragile, easily broken, and will spatter unless used properly. They also run out of ink faster than most contemporary writing utensils. Steel dip pens followed quills; they were sturdier, but still had some limitations. The individuality of the provenance of a document was a factor also, as opposed to machine font. Cursive was also favoured because the writing tool was rarely taken off the paper. The term cursive derives from Middle French cursif from Medieval Latin cursivus, which literally means 'running'. This term in turn derives from Latin currere ('to run, hasten').
Reader's Guide
Cursive has been used across many scripts and regions for centuries, valued for its speed and flowing appearance. In English, cursive writing was used before the Norman Conquest, and a cursive handwriting style—secretary hand—was widely used for both personal correspondence and official documents in England from early in the 16th century. Cursive handwriting developed into something approximating its current form from the 17th century, but its use was neither uniform, nor standardised either in England itself or elsewhere in the British Empire. In the American colonies, Thomas Jefferson joined most, but not all the letters when drafting the United States Declaration of Independence, while Timothy Matlack professionally re-wrote the presentation copy in a fully joined, cursive hand. In the 21st century, some of the surviving cursive writing styles are Spencerian, Palmer Method, Zaner-Bloser, and D'Nealian script. Although by the 2010s, the use of cursive appeared to be on the decline, as of 2019 it seemed to be coming back into use.
Did You Know?
- The term cursive derives from Latin currere, meaning 'to run, hasten'.
- In Hebrew cursive and Roman cursive, the letters are not connected.
- Cursive italic penmanship became popular in the 15th-century Italian Renaissance.
- In Maharashtra, there was a cursive alphabet known as the 'Modi' script used to write the Marathi language.
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