Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos (narrow) and graphein. It has also been called brachygraphy, from Greek brachys (short), and tachygraphy, from Greek tachys, depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal.
Dutch stenography using the "System Groote"
Sun Guoting's Treatise on Calligraphy, an example of cursive writing of Chinese characters
Tombstone of Heinrich Roller, inventor of a German shorthand system, with a sample of his shorthand
Yiddish shorthand
Cursive is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and modern-day usage across languages and regions; being used both publicly in artistic and formal documents as well as in private communication. Formal cursive is generally joined, but casual cursive is a combination of joins and pen lifts. The writing style can be further divided as "looped", "italic", or "connected".
Example of classic American business cursive handwriting known as Spencerian script, from 1884
Looped cursive, as taught in Britain in the mid-20th century
Half of the National Anthem of Bangladesh, written in cursive Bengali
An English letter from 1894, written in Continuous Cursive
