Lowercase Kurrent
Below are examples of how a scribe would have formed the Kurrent letters. This is useful when trying to decipher hard to read letters or letters that are similar to each other.
Use the buttons to jump to a specific letter to study.
a
The lowercase Kurrent a resembles the lowercase Latin a. This letter can be occasionally mistaken for the lowercase Kurrent o, but unlike the lowercase Kurrent o, this letter will not be closed at the top and will include a downward stroke on the right.
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b
The lowercase Kurrent b strongly resembles its lowercase Latin counterpart. It can be confused, however, with the lowercase Kurrent final s.
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c
The lowercase Kurrent c is simply a straight vertical line with connecting strokes at the top and bottom. It is essentially the same as the lowercase Kurrent i, minus the dot. It should be noted that in German, c seldom occurs at the beginning of a word or as a double consonant; usually it appears in the consonant clusters ch, ck, or sch.
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d
The lowercase Kurrent d differs from its uppercase counterpart by starting with a straight line that comes to a sharp stop at the midline, after which this letter is the same as uppercase with a low loop going down to the baseline, followed by an ascender to above the midline ending in a loop exiting to the right. The exiting loop may or may not cross the main stem and doesn’t necessarily have to connect with subsequent letters, additionally the initial down loop and the ascender may become spread apart, resembling the lowercase Kurrent letters cl (which occur only rarely in German) or il.
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e
The lowercase Kurrent e may resemble the lowercase Kurrent n or the lowercase Kurrent u, although it is usually thinner than the lowercase Kurrent n and has no stroke above it like the lowercase Kurrent u. This is a very common letter and has several variants.
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f
Although the lowercase Kurrent f strongly resembles its counterpart in the Latin alphabet, it may also resemble the lowercase Kurrent h or the lowercase Kurrent word-initial/medial s (ſ). Watch for a cross-stroke through the middle of the stem; this differentiates this letter from the lowercase Kurrent ſ.
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g
The lowercase Kurrent g is also fairly easy to identify, although it might be confused sometimes with the lowercase Kurrent p or the lowercase Kurrent z. The upper half of this letter is almost identical to the lowercase Kurrent a.
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h
The lowercase Kurrent h looks like the first lowercase Latin s in a "double-s" combination (as in the word "Massachusetts" from U.S. colonial-era documents). It may be confused with a lowercase Kurrent f or a lowercase Kurrent initial/medial s (ſ), but both of this letter's loops are usually more visible and pronounced than those of the lowercase Kurrent f or s. One of this letter's variants puts the top and bottom loops on separate stems, making it look almost like a lowercase Kurrent l followed by a dotless lowercase Kurrent j (lj).
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i
The lowercase Kurrent i is essentially identical to the lowercase Kurrent c except for this letter having a dot above the midline. The dot almost never appears directly above the letter, however, and may instead appear one or two letters over to the right.
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j
The lowercase Kurrent j is very much like its lowercase Latin counterpart.
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k
The lowercase Kurrent k usually has a loop above the midline and a cross-stroke through the lower stem. Sometimes it occurs in the consonant cluster -ck. If the cluster -ck is split at the end of one line and continued on another, it usually becomes k-k, but not always.
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l
In the lowercase Kurrent l, the upper loop is usually clear enough to make this letter easy to identify. It may look very similar, however, to the lowercase Kurrent b or to the upper half of the lowercase Kurrent h.
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m
The lowercase Kurrent m tends to be straight and pointy while the lowercase Latin m tends to be curved and round. This letter may be difficult to identify when it is adjacent to the lowercase Kurrent vowels a, e, or u. An m with a bar on top of it means a double-m (mm).
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n
The lowercase Kurrent n is straighter and pointier than its lowercase Latin counterpart, and it may appear almost identical to the lowercase Kurrent u. Generally, the lowercase Kurrent u will have the U-loop above it as the major differentiation between the two letters, however note that it is possible for a bar to be written above a letter to be doubled such as in various occurrences of the lowercase Kurrent nn: this bar should be notably straight while the U-loop should be curved.
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o
The lowercase Kurrent o, like the lowercase Kurrent a, is usually open at the top. It may appear similar to the a, but its right loop does not extend down to the baseline. The letter o is the least common of all the German vowels.
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p
The lowercase Kurrent p begins with an ascending stroke to the midline, dropping into a loop that returns to the midline in a backwards loop then descends below the baseline in another backward loop that exits the letter to the right above the baseline. The letter animation of this letter strongly resembles the lowercase Kurrent g, although many actual instances of this letter are more easily identifiable: while the upper loop of the lowercase Kurrent g is usually directly above the lower loop, the upper loop of the lowercase Kurrent p is usually to the right of the lower loop. The lowercase Kurrent p may strongly resemble the lowercase Kurrent x, although the lowercase Kurrent x is rare and its lower loop is forward and disconnected unlike the lower loop of the lowercase Kurrent p.
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q
The letter q is fairly rare and is always followed by a u. The lowercase Kurrent q may sometimes resemble the lowercase Kurrent g or the lowercase Kurrent p. Its lower protrusion should be only a tail, not a loop (although some writers tend to make a loop anyway).
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r
The lowercase Kurrent r is problematic because it strongly resembles the lowercase Kurrent e or the lowercase Kurrent n. This letter is one of the most common letters in the German language. If your attempts to distinguish this letter from the lowercase Kurrent e or lowercase Kurrent n are unsuccessful, we recommend that you attempt to decipher the surrounding letters or the rest of the word.
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ſ
In Kurrent and Fraktur there are two manifestations of the lowercase s — one at the beginning of words or syllables or in between letters within a syllable, and one at the end of words or syllables. The following instances of s are the aforementioned first kind (ſ): a tall, deep upward and downward stroke occurs as the beginning of a word or syllable and in between letters within a syllable. The lowercase Kurrent ſ may be confused with the lowercase Kurrent f or lowercase Kurrent h, although ideally it should not have loops (As is the case with the lowercase Kurrent q, some writers might make loops anyway). Occasionally, the ſ might be missing its upper stem. This is likely in the first ſ of a double-ſ.
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s-(final)
The second manifestation of the lowercase Kurrent s occurs only at the end of a word or syllable. It basically resembles the number '6'.
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t
The lowercase Kurrent t resembles the lowercase Latin t. It may appear unfamiliar, however, when following a Kurrent d or a Kurrent s (uppercase or lowercase), and some readers could confuse the combination of these two letters for another letter, such as an uppercase Kurrent N. In these instances, it is useful to notice that the Kurrent d and the Kurrent s usually connect to the lowercase Kurrent t above the midline rather than near the baseline.
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u
As shown in the first example below, the lowercase Kurrent u is identical to the lowercase Kurrent n except for an accompanying upper loop. This loop, called an 'U-Bogen' in German, may appear either directly above this letter or above the next letter to the right. The u-loop is often a half-oval curving upward, although it may also curve downward and appear more circular. The u-loop may often be confused with an umlaut, although the umlaut is usually straighter and more jagged.
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v
The overall shape of the lowercase Kurrent v is similar to its Latin and Fraktur counterparts, although it may often resemble a lowercase Kurrent r or a lowercase Kurrent e. This letter usually extends farther to the right than an lowercase Kurrent r or a lowercase Kurrent e, however, and often appears alongside these letters.
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w
The lowercase Kurrent w may resemble the lowercase Kurrent v as well as the lowercase Kurrent r or even the lowercase Kurrent e, although it very often appears with a downward loop on the right. That downward loop is usually longer than that of a lowercase Kurrent v but not necessarily twice as long.
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x
This letter is very rare in German and will most likely occur in a few personal or place names. The lowercase Kurrent x may resemble a lowercase Kurrent p or even a lowercase Kurrent g, however this letter has the notable difference in that its lower loop always curves forward as it approaches the baseline.
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y
The upper portion of the lowercase Kurrent y is identical to the lowercase Kurrent v. This letter's right loop however extends down below the baseline into a backwards loop, similar to the lowercase Kurrent g, j or z. Without an umlaut, the y is pronounced as an ü or an i sound. With an umlaut, the y (ÿ) is pronounced like the diphthong ei or ai.
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z
The lowercase Kurrent z is similar in form to its lowercase Latin script counterpart.
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ä
The lowercase Kurrent ä may resemble the lowercase Kurrent a, and ä may also appear interchangeably with ae. The umlaut may appear as a slanted or jagged line and it is also often written above the next letter to the right.
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ö
The lowercase Kurrent ö may resemble the lowercase Kurrent o, and ö may also appear interchangeably with oe. The umlaut may appear as a slanted or jagged line and it is also often written above the next letter to the right.
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ü
There may be some confusion between the lowercase Kurrent ü and the regular lowercase Kurrent u with a u-loop. The two may appear virtually identical. Our advice is to look for other instances of u or ü within the document and then use your knowledge of German vocabulary to determine the correct letter. Occasionally the ü may occur interchangeably with ue.
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ß
The letter ß is called "Eszett" (which means "S-Z" in German) or "Sharp S" ("scharfes S" in German). It developed hundreds of years ago as a combination of the initial/medial s and z. Nowadays it stands for double-s, although it is not always interchangeable with a double-s. The letter ß is only a lowercase letter, therefore it would appear in uppercase form as SS (although some scribes did not follow this rule). The letter ß will never begin a word or a syllable, and it almost never occurs when a word can be hyphenated into two s's.
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These letters may be easily practiced with our handwriting practice sheets.