Russian Cursive Ц ц (Tse): How to Write It
By Daily Cyrillic · Updated
Cursive ц looks like a cursive и (a handwritten u) with a small tail hooking down below the baseline at the bottom right. That short descender is the only difference. ts as in "cats", always hard.
Reading time: about 1 min.
- Sound
- /t͡s/, written ts
- Letter name
- цэ
- Often confused with
- и, щ
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Sound
ts as in "cats", always hard.
How to write cursive ц, step by step
- Draw a downstroke from the midline that curves right at the baseline.
- Go up to the midline and make a second straight downstroke to the baseline.
- Continue below the baseline into a short tail.
- Hook the tail slightly left or loop it, then exit to the next letter.
The capital Ц
Capital Ц is a large cursive И shape, usually begun with a curl at the top left, plus the same small tail at the bottom right.
How it connects to other letters
The tail is short, so ц can loop back up from it and join the next letter without a lift.
Letters it is confused with
ц / и: Without the tail, ц is just и. Look below the baseline: a little hook means ц.
ц / щ: щ has the same tail but three downstrokes instead of two.
Example words in cursive
Read the cursive word first, then check the print form and meaning.
| Cursive | Transliteration | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| цвет | цвет | tsvet | colour |
| цирк | цирк | tsirk | circus |
| птица | птица | ptítsa | bird |
| отец | отец | otéts | father |
Common mistakes
- Making the tail so small it disappears, so the word reads with и.
- Writing a long loop like у instead of a short hook.
Turn this guide into words you can use
Build a free Russian set for this topic, with examples and ElevenLabs AI audio.