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V, the American cursive letter v

V, the American cursive letter v

V is the 22nd letter of the English alphabet. It is drawn here in American school cursive, with the copperplate form beside it.

PrintedV v
Formscopperplatecopperplate capital
Printed 1866v, capital, engraved in Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, 1866, p. 67capital · p. 67v, small, engraved in Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, 1866, p. 48small · p. 48
PracticePracticeA4US Letter
Sounds likev (/v/)
PrintedV v
Formscopperplatecopperplate capital
Printed 1866v, capital, engraved in Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, 1866, p. 67capital · p. 67v, small, engraved in Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, 1866, p. 48small · p. 48
PracticePracticeA4US Letter
Sounds likev (/v/)

In words

love

love ·

very

very ·

Easy to confuse with

Looks like r (r)

In a fast hand r, v and n collapse into the same hump. v ends high, where it joins the next letter.

handwritten lowercase v in American cursive
lowercase
handwritten uppercase v in American cursive
uppercase
copperplate
copperplate capital

History

V, named “vee”, is the 22nd of the 26 letters of the English alphabet. American letters, ledgers and census sheets of 1850 to 1950 were written in one of three taught hands: the older copperplate, Spencer's method and Palmer's.

The large pair is school cursive, cut from Playwrite US Trad. Beside it is the same letter in copperplate, cut from Pinyon Script.

The history of American cursive →