How to write a cursive x

Forming the cursive x

The body of x is a single arched movement that joins forward like any baseline-exit letter; the cross is added afterwards and is not part of the join. Some programs deliberately hold the cross until the whole word is finished, which keeps the writing flowing, pick one timing and stay with it. Lead-in is an overcurve.

Start: On the baseline, at the left

1. Overcurve lead-in: rise from the baseline and arch over at the midline
2. Come down the far side of the arch to the baseline
3. Undercurve exit at the baseline, swinging away toward the next letter; the pencil comes off the paper at the end of this stroke
4. PEN LIFT, then add the crossing stroke: a single slanted line drawn from upper right down to lower left across the body of the letter

How it joins

The cursive x finishes on the baseline with an undercurve, which is exactly where the next letter begins. That is why cursive can be written without lifting the pencil: the exit of one letter is the entry of the next. Practise x inside a word rather than on its own as soon as the shape is reliable, because the join is the part that actually needs practice.

Common mistakes

• The crossing stroke is forgotten, leaving what reads as a c or as a single arch.
• The cross is drawn at the wrong angle or in the wrong direction, and x comes out looking like a k.
• The cross is drawn too long and cuts into the letters on either side.
• The child builds x from two separate printed diagonals, which produces no lead-in and no exit, so the letter cannot be joined at all.

Letters that move the same way

Arched overcurve letters: An overcurve lead-in: a shallow rise from the baseline that arches over at the midline before dropping to the baseline again. The arch is rounded in m and n, pointed in v, and used once as a launcher in x, y and z.

mnvyz

Print first, then cursive

Cursive is usually introduced once print handwriting is automatic, typically around third grade. If a child is still thinking about how to form printed letters, adding a second script makes both harder. Theprinted x page covers that form, andwhen cursive is usually taughtexplains why the timing varies so much.