How to Write Happy New Year in Cursive

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

"Happy New Year" in Playwrite US Trad, a typeface modelled on traditional school cursive.

Happy New Year puts three capital letters on one line: H, N and Y. Each has a different shape, and each joins to its following letter in its own way. The best-looking results come from matching the height and slant of the three capitals, then keeping the lowercase letters small and even between them.

Copy and paste "Happy New Year" in cursive

Open in the cursive text generator →

Letter by letter

Each distinct letter in "Happy New Year" has its own stroke-by-stroke page.

The joins in Happy New Year

Ha: The capital H finishes with its crossbar swinging right and carries into the a. Keep the a closed and small, and leave the H crossbar level.
Ne: The capital N is a rising stroke, a downstroke and a final hump. Its exit leads into the e, which begins at the baseline. Keep the exit short so the N does not float.
ew: The e exits at the baseline into the w. The w has two points and ends with a high bridge, so the next capital Y starts after a clear gap, not joined to the w.
Ye: The capital Y connects: its long right stroke drops below the line, loops, and the finishing stroke sweeps back up into the e. Keep the Y's loop small so the e starts close to the baseline beside it.
ea: The e exits at the baseline and swings up into the a. Close the a at the top and leave a short exit.
ar: The a exits at the baseline into the r. The r has a small shoulder and ends the word, so finish it with a short, rounded stroke.

Tricky spots

Three capitals: H, N and Y all carry loops or long strokes. Keep them the same height and the same slant. If they grow bigger as you write, the line leans and fills the card unevenly.
The Y descender: The Y tail drops below the line and must loop back. On a card, leave room under the word, or let the tail sweep out as a flourish rather than colliding with the line below.
The w bridge: The w ends high, at the midline. Because Year starts with a capital, lift the pen and leave a word space rather than joining the w to the Y.

Capitals

Capitalise all three words in a greeting: Happy New Year. The capitals are H, N and Y, each with a different structure, so practise them on their own first. In a casual caption, lowercase happy new year looks relaxed, but the capitals give a card its celebratory look.

Variations and styles

On a poster, write the three words on three lines with a different size for each, and use a long swash from the Y to frame the year number. A year such as 2027 below the greeting looks good in simple cursive digits. A brush pen gives the capitals a strong, bold feel.

Printable practice sheet

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

Cursive practice: Happy New Year

Name: ____________________ coolletteringgenerator.com

Copy-paste versions of Happy New Year

In script, 𝒩ℯ𝓌 and 𝒴ℯ𝒶𝓇 each contain one ℯ (U+212F), and ℋ (U+210B) opens Happy, which makes three borrowed glyphs in ℋ𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒩ℯ𝓌 𝒴ℯ𝒶𝓇. The capitals N and Y are ordinary math script. Bold script 𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓝𝓮𝔀 𝓨𝓮𝓪𝓻 has no substitutes, so it is the tidier pick for a short bio line.

Happy New Year in cursive: questions

How do you write happy new year in cursive?

Write Happy with a capital H, a closed a, two p stems and a looped y. Leave a word space, write New with a capital N, then Year with a capital Y that has a looped tail. Keep all three capitals the same height.

Do I join the w to the Y in New Year?

No. Year is a new word starting with a capital, and school cursive lifts the pen between words. Leave a space about the width of a lowercase o after the w, then start the Y fresh. The w ends with a high bridge, so a join would drag the pen across the gap and make the phrase look like Newyear.

Which capital is hardest in happy new year?

The N or the Y, depending on your style. The N has a rising entry stroke and a hump that must stay shallow, and the Y has a looped tail that drops below the line. Practise each on its own for a few lines before writing the full greeting, and keep both the same height as the H.

Can I copy happy new year in cursive text?

Yes. Copy the script or bold script lines above and paste them into captions and messages. They are Unicode characters rather than a font, so a screen reader may spell them out letter by letter, and an ordinary-text copy helps anyone using assistive technology.