Cursive I (Capital & Lowercase)

How to Write a Cursive Capital I

1. Start below the midline. Place your pencil a little below the midline, on the left side of where the letter will sit, and draw a short stroke to the left.
2. Curve down to the baseline. Turn the stroke down and around in a rounded curve that touches the baseline.
3. Climb to the top line. Swing up and to the right in a long upstroke that reaches the top line.
4. Loop and come down. Curve over at the top line in a tall, narrow loop and pull a slanted stroke straight down to the baseline.
5. Carry on or stop. At the baseline, the stroke turns and runs into the next letter. If the I stands alone, as in the word I, simply stop on the baseline.

How to Write a Lowercase i in Cursive

1. Come up to the midline. In a word, the stroke from the previous letter rises to the midline. On its own, the i simply starts there.
2. Pull down. Draw a short slanted stroke from the midline down to the baseline.
3. Curve out. Round off at the baseline and swing up to the right with a small exit stroke.
4. Add the dot. When the word is finished, place a small dot above the letter, about halfway between the midline and the top line.

Common Mistakes With Cursive I

The capital I cursive form and the lowercase i go wrong in very different ways.

• Writing a print I. A straight line with two bars isn't part of traditional cursive. The cursive uppercase I is a curve and a tall loop.
• Skipping the starting stroke. The short stroke below the midline and the curve beneath it are what make the capital an I. Leave them off and it reads as a large lowercase l.
• Starting the capital at the top. The capital I begins near the middle of the letter, not on the top line. Starting at the top flips the loop the wrong way.
• Dotting too early. Stopping in the middle of a word to dot each i breaks the rhythm. Finish the word, then go back and add the dots.
• A tall lowercase i. The i stays between the midline and the baseline. If it rises higher, it can pass for an uncrossed t.
• Forgetting the dot. Without its dot, a cursive i blends into the strokes around it, especially in words like minimum.

How I in Cursive Connects

In the traditional style shown here, the cursive capital I joins the next letter. The tall loop comes down to the baseline and the stroke carries straight on, as in Ivy or Isaac. Several capitals near it in the alphabet, like B, D, F, G and H, don't join, so this one is worth practicing on its own.

The lowercase i is one of the easiest joins in cursive. The stroke from the previous letter simply rises to the midline and becomes the top of the i. In kiwi you'll write two of them; wait until the end of the word to add both dots.

After o, w, v and b, the join arrives at the midline already, so it runs across and turns straight down into the i, as in oil. Keep that bridge level and the i won't get a bump on top.

Copy and Paste Cursive I Symbols

These are Unicode script characters, not real handwriting. Paste them into usernames, bios and captions; each symbol stays separate, so they won't link together like pen cursive.

• ℐ𝓇𝒾𝓈Copy
• ℐ𝒸ℴ𝓃Copy
• ℐ𝓃𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓇ℯCopy
• ℐ ℒℴ𝓋ℯ 𝒴ℴ𝓊Copy

Words That Start With I

Words with i are good for practicing quick, light joins and remembering to dot at the end. Start with short words and work up.

• Short words: ink, ice, is, it, if, in, ill, inch
• Longer words: island, insect, invite, idea, igloo, iron, ivory, inside
• I in the middle: kiwi, oil, milk, fish, little, rain, music, minimum
• Names and places: Ivy, Isaac, Iris, Isabel, Italy, India, Iowa, Ireland

The capital I is also the pronoun "I", so you'll write it far more often than most capitals. Practice it in short sentences like "I can" and "I am" until it feels automatic.