Cursive letters / I
Cursive I: capital and lowercase i
Capital cursive I starts with a short stroke drawn right to left about halfway up to the midline, curves down around the baseline, sweeps up to a tall loop, and slants down to stop on the baseline. Lowercase i is a short slant from the midline to the baseline with a small upturn, plus a dot added last above it.
Specimen
Capital I and lowercase i in traditional school cursive.
Copy and paste cursive I
Paste-ready script letters for a bio, caption, or text: ℐ 𝒾 𝓘 𝓲. More looks in the cursive generator.
Copy box
Script
ℐ𝒾
Bold script
𝓘𝓲
Italic
𝐼𝑖
Bold italic
𝑰𝒊
This is Unicode text, not a handwriting font. It will look different in every app.
Write
How to write I in cursive
Capital I
Watch the pen. Each number appears where its step starts; the steps below match.
Capital I, step by step
- Start about halfway between the baseline and the midline with a short stroke drawn from right to left.
- Turn sharply down, round the bottom along the baseline, and sweep up to the right.
- Climb to the headline and loop left over the top.
- Slant straight down, crossing the rising stroke, and stop on the baseline. The capital does not connect.
The whole capital I in one read
Capital I in this style is a tall loop resting on a curved base. Start on the left, about halfway between the baseline and the midline, with a short stroke drawn from right to left. Turn sharply down, round the bottom along the baseline, and sweep up to the right. Keep climbing to the headline, loop left over the top, and slant straight down through the middle of the letter to the baseline. The downstroke crosses the rising stroke just above the baseline and stops on the line with no exit. This capital does not connect, so the next letter starts on its own.
Lowercase i
Watch the pen. Each number appears where its step starts; the steps below match.
Lowercase i, step by step
- Start at the midline and slant straight down to the baseline. At the start of a word, a short upstroke from the baseline can lead in.
- Round off at the bottom and swing up to the right to exit.
- Lift and add the dot about halfway between the midline and the headline, above the stroke.
The whole lowercase i in one read
Lowercase i lives entirely in the short space between the baseline and the midline. The letter as shown starts at the midline and slants straight down to the baseline. At the bottom, round off and swing up to the right in a small upturn. That upturn is the exit, and inside a word it keeps rising into the next letter. Lift, then place the dot above the stroke, about halfway between the midline and the headline. At the start of a word, many teachers have children lead in with a short upstroke from the baseline, and inside a word the previous letter's exit does that job.
Zaner-Bloser vs D’Nealian
Join
Joining i to other letters
i into t
The exit from i swings up to the right and runs into t, climbing past the midline to the top of t's stem, about two thirds of the way to the headline. The pen then comes straight back down over that line to the baseline and turns up. The bar goes on after the word, crossing t on the midline, and so does i's dot. t is taller than i, so this join climbs higher than i itself ever goes.
i into n
In in, the exit from i climbs only to the midline, where it makes a small sharp point. From that point n drops straight down to the baseline, then makes its hump and ends with an upturn. The point matters: it is where the pen changes from climbing to falling. Round it off into a soft curve and the first stroke of n looks like a second i that is missing its dot.
i into a
The exit from i rises and runs into the left side of a's oval, a little above the baseline. The oval is wider than anything in i, and it closes at the midline before a's stem comes down its right side. There is no sharp point here, unlike in. Dot the i after the whole word is written, and make sure the dot lands over the i stroke, not over the a.
Watch for
Common cursive i mistakes
A tall stroke turns i into t or l
i stops at the midline. If the stroke starts up near the headline, it becomes an uncrossed t, and if it also gets a loop, it becomes l. The dot is the only part of i above the midline, and it floats on its own. Keep the downstroke short, about as tall as the oval of a, so the word it does not read as lt.
Leaving off the dot turns i into half a u
Without its dot, the i stroke is identical to the first half of u: a short slant from the midline with an upturn. In a word like quit, an undotted i makes the ui run together into something that reads as uu. Dot every i once the word is finished. Because the stroke leans right, place the dot in line with that slant, above the top of the stroke.
Dropping capital I below the line turns it into J
Capital I and capital J both have a tall rounded top. The difference is at the bottom. I stops right on the baseline, sitting on its curved base, and does not join. J keeps going below the line into a loop and then joins the next letter. If the stem of your I slides under the baseline, the name Ian reads as Jan. Stop the downstroke on the line.
Free cursive I worksheet
Sheets use Playwrite US Trad, a traditional US school cursive.
Free, no sign-up. The PDF builds in this browser.
Practicing more than one letter? Get all 26 in the Complete Cursive Workbook, $9.
Cursive I questions
How do you write a capital I in cursive?
Capital I in this style is a tall loop resting on a curved base. Start on the left, about halfway between the baseline and the midline, with a short stroke drawn from right to left. Turn sharply down, round the bottom along the baseline, and sweep up to the right.
How do you write a lowercase i in cursive?
Lowercase i lives entirely in the short space between the baseline and the midline. The letter as shown starts at the midline and slants straight down to the baseline. At the bottom, round off and swing up to the right in a small upturn.
Does cursive capital I connect to the next letter?
No. Capital I ends on its own, so lift the pen and start the next letter with its normal entry stroke.
What is the most common mistake with cursive i?
A tall stroke turns i into t or l. i stops at the midline. If the stroke starts up near the headline, it becomes an uncrossed t, and if it also gets a loop, it becomes l.
Can I copy and paste a cursive I?
Yes. The copy box on this page gives you Unicode script letters (Ii) that paste into bios, captions, and messages. They look like cursive but are a font-style symbol, not handwriting. For a printed sheet, use the free I worksheet on this page.
Is cursive i the same in Zaner-Bloser and D’Nealian?
School styles split on capital I. Zaner-Bloser starts it just below the baseline and does not join it to the next letter. D'Nealian starts with a short stroke drawn right to left and joins it. The I shown here starts with that backward stroke but stands alone, so check your class chart before practicing it.