A cursive capital I is one stroke that starts near the baseline, rises in a large curve to the top line, comes straight down, and ends with a curl to the left at the baseline that does not go any lower. A lowercase cursive i is an undercurve up to the midline, a short slant back down, an exit stroke, and a dot.
How to write I in cursive, step by step
The steps below follow a Zaner-Bloser-style school cursive. This is the capital I that confuses people most often, because it starts at the bottom and does not resemble a printed I at all.
Capital I
Start just below the midline, a little to the right of where the letter will stand.
Curve to the left and down, then sweep up and to the right in a wide overcurve that reaches the top line.
At the top, turn and pull a slanted stroke straight down to the baseline.
At the baseline, curve to the left and back up a short way, then stop. Do not continue below the line.
Most of the capital I is its opening curve. Make it generous and round; a cramped start makes the letter look like a hurried 9 or a bent stick.
Lowercase i
Start at the baseline. Make an undercurve up to the midline.
Stop at a point and pull a short slant stroke back down to the baseline.
Exit with an undercurve to the right, toward the next letter.
After the word is finished, place a dot above the stem, halfway between the midline and the top line.
The lowercase i is the basic unit of cursive. The u is two of them in a row, and the w is two plus a small check at the end, so a clean i pays off in those letters too.
12 ways to write I
The gallery shows how far the capital I travels between styles. Copperplate and Spencerian versions keep the large entry curve but add a heavy shade to the downstroke and a small oval at the base. Italic and gothic go the other way: a straight stem with short serifs or a pointed foot, much closer to the printed I. The bouncy modern I sometimes drops the entry curve altogether and starts with a loop at the top.
For the lowercase i, the main design choice is the dot. Styles use a round dot, a short slanted dash, a tiny circle, or a hairline tick, and the choice changes the mood of a whole word.
Common mistakes with I
the capital I's downstroke drops below the baseline, which makes it a J
the opening curve of the capital I is cramped, so the letter looks like a 9 or a bent line
the lowercase i's exit rises too high, so the i looks like an e
the dot is placed during the word rather than after it, which breaks the rhythm of the next join
The I/J mix-up is the one that changes meaning. In a name like "Ian" versus "Jan", the only clue is whether the downstroke drops below the line.
Joining I to other letters
Lowercase i joins easily because it starts and ends with the same undercurve. The main risk is a join that rises too high, which makes the i look like an e or an l. In "in" and "io", keep the exit low until the next letter begins its own overcurve. In "ic", let the exit turn into the c's top curve without looping. The capital I usually stands alone; leave a small gap after it.
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
In
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Is
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
It
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Io
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Ic
Practice I
The I sheet starts with the capital I and capital J side by side for comparison, then moves to rows of lowercase i and the joins above. Print at actual size on Letter or A4.
Look at where the downstroke ends. The capital I stops at the baseline with a small curl to the left. The capital J keeps going below the baseline into a second loop. Their tops are the same in most school models, so the bottom is the only reliable difference. The letter J page shows the two next to each other.
Why does the cursive capital I look like that?
Cursive capitals were designed to flow into each other and look decorative on a page, and a straight printed I does neither. The large rounded entry gives the hand a natural starting motion and makes the letter more visible at the start of a sentence. It is also why many people now write a print-style I even when the rest of their writing is cursive. Both are accepted in most US schools.
Why does the lowercase i have a dot?
In medieval scripts, the i was a single short stroke, or minim, and so were parts of the m, n and u. A word like "minimum" became a row of identical strokes. Scribes began adding a small mark over the i to tell it apart, and that mark became the dot, which is called a tittle.
Can you write a print-style capital I in cursive?
Yes. Many adults and some school programs now accept a simple straight capital I, with or without short serifs at the top and bottom, even in otherwise joined writing. It is quicker and easier to read, especially in the pronoun "I" in the middle of a sentence. The traditional cursive capital is still worth learning for formal writing, invitations and signatures, where its rounded entry looks deliberate rather than old-fashioned.
If you do switch, use the same capital I throughout a piece. A mix of both forms on one page looks like a mistake.
