Cursive H

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Next to each other, the two letters are equally tall: the small h rises as far as the capital H, up to the cap height. Neither goes below the baseline. Measured from top to bottom, the small letter comes to 1.01 of the capital. The capital is the wider letter: the small h is 0.82 as wide.

Capital H, two leaning lines

The capital H is built on two slanted lines. They stand side by side and lean the same way, and each runs from the baseline up to the cap height. Both finish on the baseline in blunt feet, with no tails.

A short wavy bar comes in from the left and leads into the top of the left-hand line. The far end of the bar, a blunt tip below the cap height, is the point of the capital furthest left.

Between the two lines lies a flat closed loop, wider than it is tall, at about the x-height. It is the one enclosed space of the capital H. The loop is attached to the left-hand line at its top and at its bottom. Its lower edge passes through the right-hand line and carries on as a short tail that rises to the right.

Small h, loop and arch

The small h is a tall loop with an arch beside it. The loop is narrow and closed, and it reaches the cap height. Nothing else in the letter encloses a space.

At the lower left a line leaves the baseline and curves upward toward the loop. That is where the small h reaches furthest left. The straight side of the loop passes over this line under the x-height and goes on down to the baseline, where it stops in a blunt foot.

The arch branches off the straight line to the right. It tops out at the x-height and comes back down to the baseline. There its right leg turns up into a short tail, and no part of the small h lies further right than that tail.

One loop each, in different places

The two letters are built differently. The capital H has two separate tall lines, tied together by a loop at the middle. The small h has a single tall loop and an arch at its side. So each letter has one enclosed space, but not in the same spot: the capital's is the flat loop at the middle, and the small letter's is the tall loop at the top.

The h after c in cheer, outmatch and stretch

Cheer has the small h between c and e, and outmatch and stretch end in h after a c.

Left side like k, right half like n

The small h shares its left side with the small k and its right half with the small n.

On the small k and the small h the left side is the same. It is a long loop that stands as high as the cap height, with a line climbing into it from the baseline. Each letter also finishes with a short tail at the lower right. What lies to the right of the tall loop is different: the small h has one open arch there, and the small k has a small closed loop with a leg under it.

With the small n, the right half is what matches. Both letters have an arch there that tops out at the x-height, comes down to the baseline and turns up into a short tail. At the left they part. The small h has its tall loop, up to the cap height, where the small n has only a short hook near the x-height.

• Small k
• Small n

SCRIPT CAPITAL H, from Letterlike Symbols

In the Cursive style the small h is the text character MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT SMALL H, U+1D4BD. The capital H is U+210B, SCRIPT CAPITAL H, from the Letterlike Symbols block.