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About This Quiz
Do you write so illegibly that others have trouble reading your Christmas cards? You're not alone — the U.K. postal system once reported that they destroyed more than 5 million illegibly addressed Christmas cards and letters! By the way, when was the last time you wrote a letter? Exactly! People text more than they write today, so cursive letters are slowly becoming a thing of the past. But handwriting still influences our lives — every year, the United States government loses thousands of dollars for handwriting-related reasons. At least 1 in 10 patients suffers because of a physician's messy handwriting. And a 1965 NASA experiment failed for the same reason — an engineer had just misread instructions! If only somebody had better handwriting...
On the other hand, calligraphy and lettering are among the hottest trends nowadays. After all, beautiful handwriting has an unusual power to transform a plain piece of paper into a masterpiece, be it an inspirational quote or a birthday card. Writing anything down also makes us remember it better, while not writing important things down is just asking to forget. So dust off your pen, and the next time you need to remember something, just take notes instead of typing. We promise it will help!
Do you still remember all of these cursive letters from school? Brush up on your handwriting skills with this exciting quiz!
B
Did you know that the letter "B" is more than 3,000 years old? It used to be referred to as "beta," which is why people today sometimes use beta for something that is "in second."
A
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Z
Z is an Etruscan letter. The Etruscan civilization was a powerful civilization in ancient Italy.
J
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n/a
Can you name this cursive letter?
a
Did you know the letter "a" is derived from an ox's head? Well, not the literal head, but a picture of the ox's head in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
o
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Y
T
If you are ever playing hangman or Wheel of Fortune, guess this letter! It is the most frequently used of all the English consonants.
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D
This letter has maintained its position as the fourth letter of the alphabet for all of its existence. Although the shape of the written letter is a bit different than it has been historically, it has always held a rounded shape.
e
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P
O
The Phoenicians gave this letter a vowel sound, and in regards to the written form, it has remained about the same since its origin.
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X
p
It may seem phonetically strange to English speakers that this letter is known as "rho" in the Greek alphabet. It is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.
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J
Y
This letter is also Greek, and is known in the Greek alphabet as upsilon. In historic Latin, is was rarely used.
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n/a
Which curved cursive letter is shown here?
g
C
This letter can be phonetically confusing due to similar sounds that the letters /k/ and /s/ make. It was originally used to transcribe a Phoenician sound, and has been kept since.
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H
Did you know that in the 1800s, it was common for people to not pronounce /h/ in words like hospital and herb without the beginning sound? In the U.S., people still pronounce herb without the /h/.
B
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w
v
Did you know this letter was not distinct from /u/ until the 1300s? In the 1500s, /u/ as a vowel was finally formed, making /v/ the true consonant.
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W
Have you ever thought of transcribing this letter simply using two "u"s; /uu/? This is what people who wrote in Old German did.
X
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R
This letter has a correlation to dogs in ancient Latin, since it was thought of as a trill that made the same noise as a growling dog. Maybe that's why the canine name "Rover" is so popular!
F
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n/a
Can you identify this cursive letter?
n
U
The Gothic alphabet shows the first /u/. It became its own letter, apart from the /v/, in the 1300s.
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p
s
Sigma is the Greek letter and the original name for /s/. This is also a good letter to guess when playing guess-the-word games, as it is commonly used in English.
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f
In 3000 B.C., the letter /f/ began as a picture of a snake. Over thousands of years, it has slowly changed to be the letter it is today in the English alphabet.
y
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X
Have you ever read the words like Xander or xylophone and wondered what the point of the /x/ is? This letter is said to be like a phonetic chameleon since it doesn't always have a distinct sound.
k
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n/a
Name this cursive letter:
R
N
In some languages such as Arabic, the letter /n/ is called "nun." "Nun" also means fish in Arabic.
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n/a
What is this curvy cursive letter?
n
M
Greeks called this letter "mu," Phoenicians "mem." Either way, it is considered a sacred and powerful letter because it represents water.
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n/a
What cursive letter is pictured?
g
Although this letter was related to the /c/ in the Phoenician alphabet, the Greeks used it for the guttural /ga/ sound.
Y
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i
Did you know that /j/ came to be as a variation of /i/? /I/ was used as both a vowel and consonant until the 1500s.
u
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G
J
This letter was also used for both consonant and vowel sounds until the 1500s. However, it did not become popular in English for another hundred years.
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n/a
Which cursive letter is shown here?
p
k
The capital version of this letter is easier to write in cursive than the lowercase, since it has fewer loops. This sound is frequently used in English and in Germanic languages.
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u
e
This letter's origin is Epsilon, a Greek letter. There are many companies today named after Epsilon.
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n/a
What is this cursive consonant?
v
q
Perhaps you learned in elementary school that /q/ must be followed by a /u/. Have you ever wondered if there is a word with a /q/ but no /u/? There are a few, but most are derived from non-English words. "Qintar," for example, is the monetary unit of Albania.
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n/a
What is this lowercase cursive letter?
w
Did you know that if you search "w facts" on the internet, you'll find results about former President George W. Bush? His middle initial must have made a mark!
v
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G
The United States has had many presidents whose name began with this letter. From all the Georges to Gerald and Grover, this must be a presidential letter!
Q
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T
r
This letter is growing very popular in the tech-data world. It is 15th in all data programming languages.
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n/a
What is this cursive letter?
V
h
H is also the symbol for hydrogen, an element in the table of elements. It is the most common element in the universe.
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V
There is a pop singer from South Korea named "V" who is in the boy band BTS. Check out their music videos today!
Q
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n/a
Can you name this cursive letter?
o
This letter also describes a type of blood. O negative blood is a rare blood type; only about six percent of people have it.
B
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p
A
Speaking of blood types, A negative is another rarity. About six percent of people also have this type of blood.
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n/a
What is this uppercase letter?
E
E! is also a TV show and network that broadcasts news about the celebrity and entertainment world. If you want to know the latest Hollywood gossip, turn on this channel.
C
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n/a
Can you identify this cursive letter?
J
b
"B" is also used in the medical world to describe the virus called "Hepatitis B." Don't worry, it's only contagious through contact with blood or bodily fluids.
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n/a
What is this infrequently used letter?
Q
x
Have you heard of the iPhone X? It has amazing new features, including face recognition as your password!
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r
P
There are a lot of veggies that begin with this letter. And now, delicious latte drinks start with this letter too, thanks to the pumpkin latte!
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n/a
What is this common consonant?
t
Ford made its Model-T car for about 20 years in the early 1900s. It was known as an affordable car for the common man.
k
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n/a
Which cursive vowel is pictured?
u
"U" is often used to abbreviate the name of a state university. Take "U of M" for University of Michigan, for example.
c
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n/a
What lowercase cursive letter is shown here?
z
How many words can you think of that start with the letter /z/? Zebra, zipper, zombies and zoology are a few ideas for those of you playing Scrabble!
g
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f
m
The beloved candy M&Ms has made its mark on this letter. Did you know that it stands for the two last names of the chocolatiers who started the company? Mars and Murrie were their last names.
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n/a
Can you identify this cursive letter?
d
"D" is the name of a programming language created by Walter Bright. It is a high-level language that was released in 2001.
e
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n
What's one of the first things that pops up when you internet search "n"? Netflix! This internet movie rental system has changed the way our society finds entertainment, and probably put a few physical rental stores out of business.
X
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F
S
This is the 19th letter of the English alphabet, and is also the initials of a children's TV show where they teach letters, "Sesame Street."
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n/a
This cursive letter is:
j
What is jade? Jade is a gemstone known for its green color and is often used in Asian art.
v
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n/a
Identify this lowercase letter:
l
This is the 12th letter in the English alphabet and is often used in English spelling. In fact, it is one of the top 10 most commonly used letters.
t
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n/a
Which versatile cursive letter is this?
y
Located near the end of the alphabet sandwiched by /x/ and /z/, this letter is a phonetic chameleon. It is sometimes a consonant and other times a vowel.
j
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P
F
Want to know a fun fact about /F/? It is a historic letter that comes from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
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n/a
What cursive letter is pictured?
z
K
Where does the saying "OK" come from? Some think it's an abbreviation for "oll korrect," but it is more likely that it became a part of English lingo when a political party named the O.K. Club began. This was actually an abbreviation for the president's hometown.
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H
Q
Have you ever considered that /q/ and /k/ make a similar sound in the back of the throat? This letter usually needs the letter /u/ after it.
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You Got:
/49
