cursive

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin cursīvus (“running”), used of handwriting,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and Barnhart and Etymonline take it borrowed from French cursif, feminine cursive, from the Medieval Latin word.^[7][8] The OED notes that the French word is recorded only from 1797.^[2] The Medieval Latin adjective is formed from cursus (“a running”), the past participle of currō (“to run”), and -īvus,^[8][7][2][9] from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[8][10] It is related to current, course and cursory.^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of writing, in a running hand, with the letters joined and formed quickly without lifting the pen: 1784, in W. Fry's New Vocabulary.^[2][8][7] Dictionary.com dates it to 1775–85.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline explains the idea as writing "with a running hand", originally as opposed to the older uncial hand, and the OED likewise describes the cursive style of ancient manuscripts as distinct from the more formal uncial.^[8][2] An older English name for such writing was joining-hand, from the 1580s.^[8] The noun, a cursive letter or a manuscript in cursive, is dated 1838 by Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[9] by 1850 by Etymonline^[8] and 1861 by the OED and Barnhart, the latter of whom takes it as probably from the French feminine noun cursive.^[2][7] In printing the word came to mean a typeface that imitates handwriting,^[5][9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the extended senses "flowing, easy" and "casual, done without close attention to detail".^[9]

Timeline

• 1784 – of handwriting, running, with the letters joined.^[2][8][7]
• 1838 – noun, a manuscript written in cursive.^[9]
• 1861 – noun, a cursive character or manuscript.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of handwriting, written with the letters joined and formed in a quick, flowing way: She signed the card in neat cursive script.^[5][9][2]
2. (printing) Of a typeface, made to look like handwriting.^[5][9]
3. Flowing and easy in character, or casual and done without close attention to detail.^[9]

Noun

1. Cursive writing, or a cursive letter or type.^[5][9][2]
2. A manuscript written in cursive letters.^[5][9][2]

Word family

• cursively
• cursiveness
• noncursive
• precursive

Related words

• course
• discursive
• incursive
• current
• cursory
• cursor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray