How to Write S in Cursive

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · October 2026 · How we review content

Capital S

Lowercase s

Typeface: Playwrite US Trad (traditional school cursive).

Capital S difficulty

Lowercase s difficulty

Cursive S is the single most searched cursive letter, and for good reason: both versions break the habits you learned printing. The capital S starts at the baseline and climbs before it curves, and the lowercase s has a sharp little peak that many people round into an e. Once you see where each one starts, both become quick to write.

Capital S is drawn from the bottom up with a tall loop and a closing curve back to the left, which feels backwards to most learners. Lowercase s has a small pointed peak that is easy to round off by accident, which makes it look like an e.

Key facts

Capital S in cursive starts on the baseline, slightly left of where the letter will sit.
Lowercase s in cursive starts on the baseline, where the previous letter ends.
Traditional cursive capital S does not join the next letter.
We rate capital S 4 out of 5 and lowercase s 3 out of 5 for difficulty.

Copy and paste a cursive S

Open in the cursive text generator →

How to write a cursive capital S

The traditional cursive capital S starts on the baseline, swings up into a tall loop and comes down through a curved spine that ends with a small loop or tail on the left.

Start: On the baseline, slightly left of where the letter will sit.

1Start on the baseline and make a slanted upstroke curving to the right, all the way to the top line.
2At the top, loop back to the left in a narrow loop, crossing your upstroke about two-thirds of the way up.
3Curve down and to the right to form the belly of the S, as in a printed S but slanted.
4Sweep the stroke back to the left along the baseline.
5Finish with a small curl that comes back up and crosses the stroke, or stop at the baseline. The curl is traditional; many modern hands leave it off.

Connecting: Traditional cursive capital S does not join the next letter. Lift your pencil after the final curl and start the next letter close by. Some modern styles end on the baseline and connect with a short stroke.

How to write a cursive lowercase s

Lowercase cursive s climbs from the baseline to a sharp peak at the midline, drops down in a small curve and closes back toward the starting stroke, like a little sail.

Start: On the baseline, where the previous letter ends. · Letter family: Swing-up letters with a peak, like r: both rise to a point at the midline before turning.

1Begin on the baseline with an upstroke that rises to the midline, slanting to the right.
2Make a sharp point at the top. Don't loop it, or the s turns into an e.
3Come down and curve the stroke out to the right, then back left, forming a small rounded bottom.
4Bring the stroke back to touch the upstroke near the baseline, closing the shape.
5Swing out to the right along the baseline with a short exit stroke to connect to the next letter.

Connecting: Lowercase s connects on both sides. It begins from the previous letter's exit stroke and leaves from the baseline into the next letter.

Joining s to other letters

ss: Make the exit of the first s rise straight into the peak of the second. Keep both peaks the same height so the pair doesn't look like a wave.
st: After the s closes, its exit stroke rises higher than usual, all the way to the t's height, before you pull straight down for the t stem. Cross the t last.
os: The o ends with a bridge at the midline, so the s starts from there instead of the baseline. Dip down slightly, then rise to the s peak, or the s will look flattened.
is: Common in words like 'is' and 'this'. Keep the s peak a touch taller than the i so the two letters don't merge into one shape.

Common mistakes with cursive S

Looping the peak of the lowercase s
Stop at the midline and change direction sharply. A loop turns s into e, and 'see' and 'sss' become impossible to tell apart.
Starting capital S at the top like a printed S
Start on the baseline and climb first. The upstroke is what creates the top loop and the slant.
Leaving the lowercase s open at the bottom
Bring the curve back to touch the upstroke before exiting. Without the closure it reads as a slanted r or an i.
Making capital S too upright
Keep the same slant as your lowercase letters (about 15–20° to the right). An upright capital beside slanted lowercase looks pasted on.

Easily confused with: Lowercase cursive s is often confused with e (looped peak) and r (open bottom). Capital S is confused with cursive capital L and G when the top loop is too large.

Practice words with s

Sunday
Sarah
sister
class
street
Sam

Printable practice sheet

Trace the grey letters, then write your own on the empty lines. Prints on one page (Letter or A4).

Cursive S s practice

Name: ____________________ coolletteringgenerator.com

Cursive S as a Unicode character

If you only need to type a cursive S, for a monogram or a username, these characters are the closest Unicode gets. 𝓢 and 𝓼 (bold script) are the safest choice: unlike regular script, the bold set has no borrowed letters, so it looks the same on every phone. For S in bubble, gothic and other styles, see S in different fonts.

Style	Capital	Lowercase	Code points
Bold Cursive	𝓢	𝓼	U+1D4E2 · U+1D4FC
Cursive Script	𝒮	𝓈	U+1D4AE · U+1D4C8
Italic Serif	𝑆	𝑠	U+1D446 · U+1D460
Bold Italic Serif	𝑺	𝒔	U+1D47A · U+1D494
Italic Sans	𝘚	𝘴	U+1D61A · U+1D634

Cursive S: questions

What does a cursive capital S look like?

It looks like a slanted printed S with a tall loop on top, drawn from the bottom up. It starts on the baseline, loops at the top, curves down through the middle, and often ends with a small curl at the bottom left.

Why does the lowercase cursive s look so different from print?

Cursive is designed so the pen never lifts, so letters begin with an upstroke from the baseline. The pointed peak and closed bottom of the cursive s are what let it connect smoothly on both sides: the entry stroke arrives from the previous letter, and the small exit tail at the bottom leads into whatever comes next. In print, the s is a single curve with no entry or exit.

Does cursive capital S connect to the next letter?

In traditional cursive (Zaner-Bloser and Palmer style), no. The capital S ends with a final curl, so you lift the pen after it and start the next lowercase letter close beside the capital. Some modern and D'Nealian-style hands end the S on the baseline and connect it, so check which model your school or workbook uses before marking a join as wrong.

How can I type a cursive S?

Copy one of the Unicode versions on this page: 𝓢 or 𝓼 (bold script), 𝒮 or 𝓈 (script). Or type a whole word in the cursive text generator and copy the result. These are symbols that imitate cursive rather than handwriting, so they do not show real joins, and thin script strokes can be hard to read at small sizes.

Is the cursive S I learned in school wrong?

Probably not. Palmer-trained adults often write a capital S with a big top loop and a heavy tail, Zaner-Bloser keeps the loop smaller, and D'Nealian ends the letter on the baseline so it can connect. All are correct within their model. What matters is that the lowercase s keeps its sharp peak and closed bottom so it can't be misread.