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How to Write 0 in Cursive

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content

Digit 0 in Playwrite US Trad (traditional school cursive).

The cursive 0 is the simplest digit and the one most often drawn wrong. It is a tall, narrow oval that starts at the top and turns counterclockwise, the same direction as a cursive a or o. The two jobs are closing it cleanly and making it taller than a lowercase letter, so it is not read as the letter o.

How to write 0

Start: Just right of the top centre at the top line, moving left and down.

  1. 1Start just right of the top centre, at the top line, with the pen pointing left.
  2. 2Curve counterclockwise down the left side in one smooth movement, keeping the oval narrow and slightly slanted to match your letters.
  3. 3Round the bottom on the baseline and come up the right side.
  4. 4Close the oval at the point where you began, overlapping by a hair so there is no gap.
  5. 5Lift the pen and leave a small gap before the next digit. Do not carry an exit stroke into it.

Variations between schools and countries

Zaner-Bloser and D'Nealian both teach a tall oval, counterclockwise from the top. Some writers add a slash through the zero (0 with a diagonal line) or a dot in the middle on forms, serial numbers and code, to separate it from the letter O. That is a convention for technical writing, not part of school cursive. A few European hands start at the bottom or finish with a small overlap loop. In most models the 0 is the height of a capital letter, while the lowercase o is only midline height.

Common mistakes with 0

  • Leaving the oval open at the top so the 0 looks like a 6 or a C

    Overlap the end slightly over the start. Check by drawing a row of five zeros and looking for any gap.

  • Drawing it as a round circle only midline high

    Make it a full-height oval, from the top line to the baseline. A short round zero looks like a lowercase o.

  • Starting at the bottom or going clockwise

    Start at the top and move counterclockwise. The direction becomes automatic and the 0 will match your a, d and o.

  • Adding a tail that points into the next digit

    Digits are not joined. Lift after closing and leave a gap about half the width of the 0.

Where you will write 0

The 0 matters in the places where it can be misread: phone numbers, years such as 2005 and 2020, house numbers and cheque amounts. On cheques, close the 0 completely and keep it taller than any letters in the amount, so nobody can turn it into a 6 or a 9 later. In a date such as 10 October 2030 the zeros are the easiest place for an alteration, so write them firmly. For tattoos, a 0 in a script font often looks like a plain oval; artists usually add a little weight contrast or a slight slant to give it character.

Printable practice sheet

Trace the grey letters, then write your own on the empty lines. Prints on one page (Letter or A4).

Cursive practice: 0 0 0 0 0 0

Name: ____________________   coolletteringgenerator.com

Copy-paste styles for 0

Unicode has script letters but no script digits, so no copyable 0 is truly cursive. The styled versions you can paste are bold 𝟎, double-struck 𝟘, monospace 𝟶, circled ⓪, negative circled ⓿, superscript ⁰ and subscript ₀. A zero is a good digit to compare in the styles: the slashed look exists only as ø, which is a letter, so use bold or monospace if you want a zero that cannot be mistaken for O. The number font generator shows every one of these for a full number such as a year or a phone number, which is where zeros usually appear.

Cursive 0: questions

Which way do you turn when writing a 0 in cursive?
Counterclockwise, starting at the top. That is the same direction you use for a, d, g and o, so it fits the rhythm of your handwriting. Starting at the top and going clockwise is common in some countries, but the US school models teach counterclockwise, and it makes a closed, even oval.
Is a cursive 0 different from a lowercase cursive o?
Yes, in height and in the exit. A 0 is a full-height oval that reaches the top line and has no joining stroke. A lowercase o stops at the midline and leaves a small bridge to the next letter. On forms, writers often slash or dot a zero to prevent confusion with a capital O.
How do I stop my 0 looking like a 6?
Close the oval fully and keep the top clean. A 6 has a stem that rises above the bowl, while a 0 is a continuous oval. If your 0 often has a small tail at the top where it starts, trim it so the start and end touch on the same spot.
Can I copy a cursive 0 to paste into a bio?
Not as a true cursive shape, because Unicode has no script digits. You can paste bold 𝟎, double-struck 𝟘, circled ⓪ or a superscript ⁰. They are ordinary digits in a different style, and the zero in a script font would have to be an image.

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