Capital & lowercase · click to copy

Z in Cursive

Capital Z and lowercase z in three cursive styles, plus two fancy variants people often compare them against. Click any letter to copy it, or scroll down for the stroke order if you are writing a cursive Z by hand.

Capital Z and lowercase z in three cursive styles and two fancy variants
StyleCapital ZLowercase z
Cursive styles
Cursive Script
Bold Cursive
Old Style Script
Fancy variants (not cursive)
Double-Struck
Clean Monospace

More letters: S in cursive · Y in cursive · X in cursive · all letters A–Z

Write Anything in Cursive

The table above is single letters. Type a word, a name, or a whole sentence here and get it in all five styles — click a row to copy it.

Cursive Z Practice Sheet

A printable worksheet for handwriting the letter Z: the stroke order at the top, then ruled lines with grey letters to trace and blank lines to finish on your own. For all 26 letters on one worksheet, use the cursive alphabet practice sheet.

Cursive Z Stroke Order

Stroke order for a cursive capital Z and a cursive lowercase z Two letterforms between dashed guide lines. The capital Z is a top bar, a diagonal down to the left and a base stroke. The lowercase z has a small top arch, a diagonal down to the baseline and a descender loop below the line, unlike the printed z. cap height x-height baseline capital Z lowercase z
The filled dot is where the pen starts, the open circle where it lifts.

How to Write a Capital Z in Cursive

  1. Start near cap height with a small hook and draw the top bar to the right.
  2. Bring the stroke down and left in a long diagonal.
  3. Land on the baseline.
  4. Carry the base stroke out to the right to finish.

Some copybooks give the capital Z a descender loop as well. Both forms are taught; the flat-based version shown here is the more common.

How to Write a Lowercase z in Cursive

  1. Start at x-height with a small arch to the right.
  2. Cut back down and left in a diagonal to the baseline.
  3. Continue below the baseline into a small loop.
  4. Bring the loop back up to the baseline to exit.

This is the letter where cursive and print diverge most: the printed z has no descender at all, the cursive z does.

Cursive z vs Printed z

No other letter changes as much between the two systems. A printed z is a flat zigzag sitting entirely on the baseline; the cursive z has a rounded top and drops a loop below the line. People who learned to print first almost always write a printed z inside otherwise joined-up handwriting, which is one of the easiest tells that someone was taught cursive late or not at all.

Joining z to the Next Letter

The descender loop comes back up to the baseline, so the z joins forward like any other looped descender. In practice this rarely matters β€” z is uncommon in English and most often sits at the end of a word or doubled, as in buzz or jazz, where the second z simply repeats the loop.

Common Mistakes with Cursive Z

  • Writing a printed z. The flat zigzag breaks the flow of joined-up text.
  • No descender loop. The cursive z drops below the line.
  • A loop that swings right. The z loop goes left, like a g.
  • A pointed top. The cursive z begins with a small rounded arch, not a corner.

Names Starting With Z in Cursive

  • Zoe — 𝒡ℴℯ
  • Zachary — π’΅π’Άπ’Έπ’½π’Άπ“‡π“Ž
  • Zara — 𝒡𝒢𝓇𝒢
  • Zane — 𝒡𝒢𝓃ℯ

Words Beginning With z in Cursive

  • zebra — 𝓏ℯ𝒷𝓇𝒢
  • zinnia — 𝓏𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒢
  • zest — π“β„―π“ˆπ“‰

Want a whole word or sentence? Use the cursive letters generator, or the cursive name generator for names. To practise these strokes on paper, print a cursive practice sheet.

Cursive Z FAQ

What is the cursive Z?

The cursive Z is the joined-up form of the letter Z. The capital is a top bar with a diagonal down to a base stroke; the lowercase has a rounded top, a diagonal to the baseline and a loop dropping below the line. Online, “cursive Z” also means the copy-and-paste characters (𝒡 and 𝓏) above.

How do you write z in cursive?

In short: a small arch at x-height, a diagonal cutting down and left to the baseline, then a loop below the line that comes back up to exit. Steps and diagram are above.

Why does a cursive z look so different from a printed z?

Because it gains a descender. The printed z is a flat zigzag on the baseline; the cursive z has a rounded top and loops below the line. It is the letter where the two systems diverge most, and writing the printed form inside cursive is a common giveaway.

Does the cursive capital Z have a tail?

Both forms are taught. Some copybooks finish the capital Z with a descender loop, others with a flat base stroke. The flat-based version shown above is the more common in modern teaching.

Can I copy and paste a cursive Z?

Yes. Note that the Old Style Script capital (ℨ) and the Double-Struck capital (β„€) both come from the Letterlike Symbols block rather than their own blocks. They paste like any other character.