The term cursive is typically said to be derived from a Latin word – “corsivo”. In italic cursive, there are no joins that link the letters Y, G, Q, and J together. The term italic cursive gets its name from the fact that it was used in the 15th century in Renaissance Italy, and it should not be confused with italic letters in typefaces, which simply means that the letters are slanted. Italic cursive is a form of writing that uses no joins or in some cases, non-looped joins. Ligatures possess joins between letters, meaning that one can write quicker in comparison to printing, some older texts that use ligature refer to the smaller letters within the font as “cursive” though in this instance the letters aren’t actually joined together. Looped cursive is what most people envision when the word “cursive” is sad, the looping form of writing that has ascenders and descenders and links letters together.Īnother type of cursive writing is ligature cursive, which is distinct from other types of cursive. There are at least three different varieties of cursive: looped cursive, italic cursive, and ligature cursive. While of the common form of cursive that most people write in has joined linking letters together, not all types of cursive have these joins. In addition, it is argued that precisely because fewer people are writing in cursive, writing in cursive may cause people to take you more seriously and grant you gravitas. When writing in print, one has to lift their writing implement far more often than writing when in cursive. Perhaps you are wondering: why learn cursive at all? The principal argument given for becoming proficient in cursive writing is that, compared to writing in print, writing in cursive lets one write faster and more efficiently.Ĭursive letters have joins, parts of the character that links them together with other characters, enabling a quicker writing speed.

Photo: “Cursive” () by helix84 via Wikimedia Commons, released to Public Domain () Why Learn Cursive?

Capital letter m