How to Write Q in Cursive

How to write a cursive capital Q

The traditional cursive capital Q is shaped like a slanted 2. It begins with a curving top, sweeps down and to the left to the baseline, makes a small loop on the line and ends with a tail to the right.

Start: Between the midline and the top line, on the left side of the letter.

1. 1Start between the midline and the top line and make a small curve up and to the right that turns over at the top line, like the head of a 2.
2. 2Continue around the top to the right and start coming down in a long curve that sweeps back toward the left.
3. 3Carry the stroke all the way down to the baseline at the left side of the letter.
4. 4Make a small loop on the baseline, crossing back over the end of your downstroke.
5. 5Finish with a short curve to the right along the baseline as the tail.

Connecting: In Zaner-Bloser and Palmer cursive, capital Q usually doesn't join: you lift after the tail and start the u close by. Some writers run the tail straight into the u. Newer and italic-based handwriting programmes often teach an oval Q with a tail, much closer to print.

How to write a cursive lowercase q

Lowercase cursive q is a downcurve oval like an a, followed by a straight descender below the baseline that loops forward, to the right, and comes back up to the baseline to connect.

Start: At the midline, where the connecting stroke turns back left to begin the oval. · Letter family: The downcurve group (a, d, g, o, q, c): q shares its oval with a and g and differs from g only in the direction of the loop.

1. 1Bring the connecting stroke up to the midline, then curve back left into a counterclockwise downcurve.
2. 2Round the oval at the baseline and climb back up to the midline to close it, as for an a.
3. 3Slant straight down from the midline, through the baseline, to the descender line.
4. 4At the bottom, loop forward to the right and swing back up toward the stem.
5. 5Close the loop at the baseline on the right side of the stem and exit with an undercurve, usually straight into a u.

Connecting: Lowercase q joins on both sides. The forward loop brings the pen back to the baseline to the right of the stem, which sets up the u in qu without a lift or a backward swing.

Joining q to other letters

• ququ: q nearly always comes before u in English. The forward loop closes at the baseline and the exit rises right into u's first point, so the tail should finish where the u begins.
• QuQu: With the 2-shaped capital, lift after the tail and start the u just to the right of the baseline loop. Leave too much space and Quinn looks like two words.
• squsqu: In square and squirrel, the s exit has to curve back left to start q's oval. Overshoot slightly to the right before curving back, as you would for sa, then let q's forward loop carry you into the u.
• aqaq: In aqua and aquarium, two downcurve ovals sit side by side. Make them the same size so the only visible difference is q's descender.

Common mistakes with cursive Q

• Looping the q's tail backward like a g

  q's loop goes forward, to the right, and closes at the baseline. A loop that swings left is a g, so quit becomes guit.

• Expecting capital Q to start like an O

  Traditional cursive Q has no oval. If you're matching school cursive, practise it as a 2 with a looped base. An oval Q is fine in modern hands but looks out of place beside traditional capitals.

• A capital Q that reads as the number 2

  Keep Q on the same slant as your letters and give it the baseline loop and tail. A flat-bottomed, upright Q is easily read as a 2, especially in addresses and dates.

• Leaving the lowercase q's oval open

  Close the oval at the midline before dropping into the descender. An open q looks like a u with a hanging tail.

Easily confused with: Capital Q is mistaken for the number 2, and for a cursive capital L or Z when the top curl is large. Lowercase q is confused with g (backward loop) and, when the oval is open, with a u that has a tail.

Practice words with q

• Quinn
• queen
• quiet
• question
• squirrel
• unique

Cursive Q: questions