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Russian cursive

The script on your pages

абвгдеёжзийAll 37
PracticeHistoryCursive generator

American cursive

1850 — 1950 · Three taught systems

SpencerianPalmer methodCopperplate
All scripts
Ж
Russian cursive37 letters · 1900s on
K
German Kurrent6 letters · 1500s — 1941
S
SütterlinGerman schools · 1915 — 1941
א
Hebrew cursive2 letters · Ashkenazi cursive
A
American cursive3 styles · 1850 — 1950
Sp
Writing stylesSpencerian · Palmer method · Copperplate
ArchiveReal letters and historical hands
Every script your family wrote in, explained letter by letter

Handwriting changed faster than language did. A letter written a century ago can be unreadable to a fluent speaker today — not because the words are unfamiliar, but because the letters are. Each script below is set out one letter at a time.

Russian cursive

Русская скоропись

The hand behind two centuries of Russian letters, diaries and records.

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German Kurrent

Deutsche Kurrentschrift

The German hand banned overnight in 1941, and unreadable to most Germans since.

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Sütterlin

Sütterlinschrift

The simplified Kurrent taught in German schools for one generation.

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Hebrew cursive

כתב רהוט

The everyday Hebrew and Yiddish hand — nothing like the square letters.

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American cursive

The hand of American letters, ledgers and census sheets, 1850–1950

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Coming next: Ukrainian cursive · Greek cursive · Arabic cursive · pre-1918 Cyrillic chancery

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