A cursive capital N starts with a small curve forward at the top line, slants down to the baseline, retraces up the stem, makes one overcurve hump at the top line and comes down again to exit with an undercurve. A lowercase cursive n is written the same way at midline height: an overcurve into a slant stroke, then one more overcurve and slant stroke, then an undercurve out.
How to write N in cursive, step by step
The steps follow a Zaner-Bloser-style school cursive. The capital N and the capital M use the same strokes; the N simply stops one hump sooner.
Capital N
Start a little below the top line. Curve forward, up and over to the top line.
Pull a slanted stroke down to the baseline.
Retrace back up the same stroke a short way, then curve forward over the top to make a hump at the top line.
Slant down to the baseline, parallel to the first downstroke.
Finish with an undercurve to the right. The capital N can join the next letter.
The retrace is the step most people skip. If the pen leaves the first stem straight away instead of travelling back up it, the hump starts too low and the N leans open like a V.
Lowercase n
Start at the baseline, or arrive from the previous letter, and make an overcurve up to the midline.
Slant down to the baseline.
Overcurve back up to the midline, retracing the first part of the downstroke, and round over the top.
Slant down to the baseline again.
Exit with an undercurve.
The tops of both humps should be round and the bottoms should be close to sharp, where the pen retraces. That is the opposite of a u, which is round at the bottom and pointed at the top.
12 ways to write N
Many styles keep the cursive humps and change how they are shaded. In copperplate and Spencerian, each downstroke of the n is a thick shade and each upward curve is a hairline, which makes the rhythm of the humps easy to see. Gothic turns the humps into narrow angled strokes with diamond-shaped feet, and italic uses a quick branching stroke that leaves the stem partway up. Some modern and brush capitals switch to the printed N, with a diagonal from top left to bottom right.
In gothic, the n and the u are built from the same short vertical strokes and differ only in where the joins fall. Some old German scripts added a small arc over the u so readers could tell the two apart.
Common mistakes with N
the lowercase n gets an extra hump and reads as an m
the humps are pointed at the top and round at the bottom, so the n reads as a u
the downstrokes are not retraced, so the humps open into loops
the capital N skips the retrace and the second stroke leaves from the bottom of the stem, so the N opens out like a V
Count the humps. A lowercase n made with three humps is an m, and that error can change a word, as in "dine" and "dime".
Joining N to other letters
The lowercase n is the easy kind of join: it arrives with an overcurve and leaves from the baseline with an undercurve. "Ne" and "ni" flow straight on. "Na" has to climb up and back over to start the a's oval. "Nd" stretches the exit up to the midline and then the d's stem rises to the top line. "Ng" and "nt" are among the most common pairs in English, so the "ing" and "ent" endings are worth practicing as whole groups.
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Ne
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Ni
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Na
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Nd
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Ng
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Nt
When an n follows a letter that ends at the midline, such as o, v or w, the overcurve entry disappears and the n starts straight from that letter's checkstroke.
Practice N
The N sheet starts with rows of overcurve humps, then the capital N, the lowercase n and the joins to trace. Print it at 100% scale on US Letter or A4.
Two, counting the entry stroke. The first hump comes from the overcurve at the start of the letter, and the second is the one in the middle. The cursive m has three. Some people count only the middle hump, so a teacher who says "the n has one hump" usually means the same letter. If you are not sure, write both and compare: n and m should look like the same letter with one more hump.
Why does my cursive n look like a u?
The humps have gone pointed at the top and rounded at the bottom. In an n, the overcurves round over the top and the pen retraces down to a near-point at the baseline. In a u, the undercurves round out along the bottom and the pen turns sharply at the midline. Write "nu" and "un" side by side and exaggerate the round parts until the difference is obvious, then bring them back to normal size.
Why does a cursive capital N look like a big lowercase n?
School cursive models deliberately use the same strokes for both. The capital N is the lowercase n stretched to the top line, with a small curve forward replacing the overcurve entry. That makes it easy to learn once the lowercase is in place. A capital N in calligraphy can be quite different, as the printed-style N in some of the gallery tiles shows.
Is it OK to write a print-style N in cursive?
Many adults do, especially for capitals. A printed N with a diagonal stroke reads clearly and can still be followed by joined cursive letters, as long as you leave a small gap and start the next letter with its own entry stroke. For handwriting assignments that ask for school cursive, use the hump form shown above.
