Image: Shutterstock
About This Quiz
If you love writing, and no, we're not talking about stories or journals here, but rather, the actual physical art of writing, then we have the perfect quiz for you. Calligraphy is the art of manually producing handwriting that is decorative. It is often done using fancy pens or brushes, and the finished product is something that is incredibly special and unique.
Unfortunately, we don't have a calligrapher on deck, but we do have some super fancy old lettering that we've found online, and we want YOU to test it out for us. We're going to give you more than a few words in this super fancy font and it's your job to tell us what each word or phrase says. We're not just testing your ability to see here, but this quiz, depending on how many you answer correctly, can tell us just how fancy you really are.Â
So if you're up to looking at Rs that have curves and curls for days and Ks whose waves seem to be never-ending, go ahead and get started on this quiz. Will you have the ability to become a calligrapher's assistant, or should you stick to using Times New Roman? Let's find out!
Shutterstock
What does this picture say?
Honey
How
Horse
There are several types of old fonts. The most popular ones include gothic script, serif fonts, rotunda, Gaelic script and several more.
Hive
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do you see here?
Ball
Balloon
Gothic script is a type of old-fashioned lettering which was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1400s.
Busy
Barter
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Does this picture say "snake"?
Yes
Gothic script is also known as blackletter or Old English, and is typically suited for short and weighty texts such as heavy-metal band names.
No
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you tell us what this says?
Consumer
Capacity
Capital
Camera
This type of alphabet is made up of dramatic and dark letterforms, full of detailed decoration and contrast.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Does this say "elephant" or "electric"?
Elephant
There are several variations of old lettering which are all characterized by tall, narrow letters with sharp angular lines.
Electric
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What is this word?
Boot
Schwabacher, Fraktur, Hybrida, Donatus-Kalender, Cursiva and Textualis are all forms of Blackletter.
Balance
Butt
Buyer
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you see what this word is?
Turn
Tarriff
Tortoise
The Schwabacher Blackletter typeface was the most common typeface in Germany up until the mid-16th century.
Transfer
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do these letters spell out?
Advantage
Auction
Aeroplane
Schwabacher, which is characterized by its sharp edges, owes its name to the Bavarian town of Schwabach.
Average
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do you see here?
Guitar
The Fraktur typeface was introduced in the mid-16th century as a replacement for the Schwabacher typeface.
Gross
Goods
Government
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you identify the word shown in the picture for us?
Hearing
Hand
Happiness
Hamburger
Hybrida script, which was developed in the early 15th century, was a mixture of textualis and cursiva.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Which of the following words is spelled out here?
Partner
Paint
Donatus-Kalender is a form of textura, This script is featured in the earliest works of Johannes Gutenberg, dating back to the early 1450s.
Population
Profit
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do these fancy letters spell?
Credit
Carpet
Textualis, also known as textura or Gothic bookhand, was widely used in France, England, Germany and the Low Countries.
Capital
Canned
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Which of these words is shown?
Many
Moody
Monopoly
Money
In comparison to Carolingian, textualis was characterized by tall and narrow letters which were formed by straight, sharp, angular lines.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What does this super fancy lettering say?
Treasury
Trade
Taxation
Telephone
In textualis, letters such as b, d, and h were written vertically and were usually finished off in a sharp, curved end.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Which of the following words do you see in the picture?
Knowledge
Kangaroo
Knife
The name cursiva refers to a large variety of blackletter, which includes civilité script.
Knitting
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What does this picture say?
Purchase
Pencil
In many scripts, the letter I was embellished to the point that it is nearly unreadable to the modern eye.
Price
Produce
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do you see here?
Lawyer
Civilité script was invented by a printer and bookseller, Robert Granjon. Civilité got its name from a book printed in its type - Erasmus' "De Civilitate Morum Puerorum Libellus."
Liar
Labor
Liquid
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Does this picture say "jungle"?
Yes
No
The word in question is "Mouse." The French cursiva, which was messy, loopy and slanted, was used from the 13th until the 16th century.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you tell us what this says?
Rate
Rental
Rocket
The Carolingian minuscule is a script which was created partially under the support of Emperor Charlemagne.
Ratchet
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Does this say "Eurasia" or "eraser"?
Eurasia
Eraser
Carolingian minuscule was influenced by the Roman half uncial and the insular scripts which were used in the English and Irish monasteries.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What is this word?
Header
Hammer
Carolingian minuscule was used extensively by the Holy Roman Empire between 800 AD and 1200 AD.
Hangover
Healer
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you see what this word is?
Supply
Sponge
Carolingian minuscule characterized by rounded shapes in clearly distinguishable glyphs for legibility.
Spin
Share
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do these letters spell out?
Juror
Janitor
Jailor
Junior
Carolingian minuscule included clear capital letters and spaces between each word.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do you see here?
Lower
Rotunda is a blackletter script. The medieval script was widely used throughout Europe.
Loyal
Lawyer
Labor
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you identify the word shown in the picture for us?
Spite
The rotunda script, which was derived from Carolingian minuscule, was not regarded as a type of blackletter.
Service
Share
Spare
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Which of the following words is spelled out here?
Debt
Demand
Drive
Rotunda differs from blackletter in that broken bows only appear in certain letters, such as D.
Discount
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do these fancy letters spell?
Inflation
Material
There is a medieval script system called insular script, which was invented in Ireland. Missionaries spread the script across Europe.
Demographic
Economy
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Which of these words is shown?
Pills
Poverty
Pen
Insular script served as the foundation for Irish orthography and modern Garlic scripts.
Price
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What does this super fancy lettering say?
Unicorn
Unemployed
Unify
Understand
The Gaelic type is also known as Irish type, Irish character or Gaelic script. Often initial letters were surrounded by red ink dots.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Which of the following words do you see in the picture?
Crayons
Charisma
Classroom
The first Gaelic type was designed in 1571 and was widely used from the 16th to the 18th century.
Careful
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What does this picture say?
Star
Students
The creation of the Gaelic alphabet was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to convert the population from Catholicism to Anglicanism.
Samples
Singing
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do you see here?
Level
Characteristics of the Gaelic script includes acute accents on some vowels and a dot above certain consonants.
Look
Leaves
Lonely
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you tell us what this says?
Doll
Disaster
Disease
Serif fonts are another category of scripts which were widespread throughout much of Europe.
Demons
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Does this say "develop" or "devastate"?
Develop
There are several variants of serif script, including Humanist, old style and transitional.
Devastate
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What is this word?
Technique
The Humanist style, also known as Venetian, was invented in Italy during the 1400s, as a replacement for the German blackletter style.
Team
Township
Talented
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Can you see what this word is?
Elegant
Electric
Elephant
Election
Centaur and Johnson are two modern variants of the Humanist style which were designed in 1928 and 1993 respectively.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do these letters spell out?
Same
Sample
Old Style, which was also referred to as Garalde, was commonly used throughout the 1500s to the 1700s.
Sandy
Siege
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do you see here?
Gem
Genetic
Transitional script, which was popular during the 1700s, is considered to be the bridge between old style and modern fonts.
Genie
Genius
Advertisement
Shutterstock
What word do these fancy letters spell?
Pliant
Parallel
Parent
Plant
Didone is a serif script with narrow, unbracketed serifs. It became popular in the late 18th century.
Advertisement
Shutterstock
Does this picture say "systemic"?
Yes
No
The word is "systems." Many traditional alphabets were decorated by outlining each capital letter, which was then colored in, typically using vermillion red.
Advertisement
You Got:
/40
Shutterstock