You probably don't think about it much. It's just there, hanging out at the bottom of your screen or etched into your keyboard. But the lower case letter g is easily the most complex, frustrating, and misunderstood character in the entire Latin alphabet. Honestly, it’s kind of a miracle we all agree on what it looks like given that there are two completely different ways to write it, and most people can’t even draw one of them from memory.
The weird double life of the lower case letter g
Most of us use the "opentail" version when we write by hand. It’s simple. You make an 'o' and then a little hook underneath. Easy. But if you look at a classic serif font like Times New Roman or Baskerville, you'll see the "looptail" version. This one has two closed circles—a bowl and a loop—connected by a tiny neck and topped with a little ear.
It's strange.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University actually did a study on this back in 2018. They asked people if they knew the lower case letter g had two forms. Most didn't. Then, they asked participants to pick the correct looptail g out of a lineup. Most failed. They couldn't even draw it. We see this letter millions of times throughout our lives, yet our brains basically treat the looptail version like a piece of background noise. We recognize it when we read, but the structural details are totally lost on us.
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Why do we have two versions anyway?
It goes back to the monks. Everything in typography usually does.
In the 8th century, scribes were developing Alcuin’s Carolingian minuscule. They wanted something fast and legible. The lower case letter g started as a derivative of the Greek gamma. Over centuries, as handwriting evolved into "Blackletter" and later "Antiqua" styles during the Renaissance, the tails started curling back on themselves.
By the time the printing press took over, the looped version became the standard for "Roman" type because it looked sophisticated. But when people were writing quickly with pens, they just let the tail hang. So, the opentail version became the "italic" or "script" standard. We've been stuck in this weird dual-reality ever since.
Typography is harder than it looks
If you’re a font designer, the lower case letter g is your final boss. It’s the hardest character to get right. If the neck is too thick, the letter looks top-heavy. If the loop is too small, it looks like a bruised 'o' or an '8' that's falling over.
You’ve got to balance the white space (the "counters") inside both circles while making sure it doesn't clash with the letters around it. Because the g has a "descender"—the part that hangs below the baseline—it often bumps into the line of text below it. This is why some modern "sans-serif" fonts, like Helvetica or Arial, stick to the single-loop opentail version. It’s cleaner. It saves space. It doesn't cause a traffic jam on the page.
The technical nightmare of the "Ear"
Check out that little stroke sticking out of the top right of a looptail g. That’s called the ear. It serves no functional purpose in terms of legibility. It’s purely aesthetic. But if you remove it, the letter suddenly looks like a weirdly deformed digit.
Designers like Matthew Carter (who designed Georgia and Verdana) spend weeks tweaking just that one ear. It has to be prominent enough to be seen at 10-point font size but subtle enough that it doesn't distract the reader's eye. Typography is basically the art of making things invisible by making them perfect.
Where the lower case letter g breaks the internet
In the early days of computing, we didn't have high-resolution displays. We had grainy CRTs. Representing a complex looptail lower case letter g in a tiny 5x7 pixel grid was impossible. It looked like a blob of ink.
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This is why "system fonts" like Chicago or Geneva on the old Macintosh computers favored the simpler g. Even today, in the world of coding and UI design, the lower case letter g is a litmus test for a font's quality. If you are looking at a terminal or a code editor, you want a "monospaced" g that is unmistakable. You don't want to confuse it with a 9 or a q.
- Google's Logo: Look at the old Google logo versus the new one. The old one (Catull font) had a very traditional, elegant looptail g. It felt "literary."
- The Rebrand: When Google switched to Product Sans in 2015, they moved to a schoolbook-style opentail g. It was a massive shift. It felt younger, simpler, and—more importantly—it scaled better on mobile screens.
The psychological "G" test
There is a weird quirk in how we process language. When you read, you don't actually look at every letter. Your brain captures the "shape" of the word—something linguists call Bouma shapes.
The lower case letter g provides a huge amount of "shape" information because of its descender. If you replace all the g's in a paragraph with o's, your reading speed drops significantly. Even though we can't draw the letter correctly, we rely on its specific visual footprint to navigate sentences.
Mastering the G in your own work
If you’re a creator, a brand owner, or just someone who cares about how their resume looks, you need to be intentional about your g's.
Don't just pick a font because it's the default. Look at the descenders. If you are writing a long-form document, a font with a looptail lower case letter g (like Garamond or Palatino) creates a sense of authority and history. It slows the reader down just enough to make the text feel "important."
On the flip side, if you are designing a mobile app or a dashboard, stay away from the loops. Stick to the opentail. It reduces cognitive load. Users are scanning, not savoring. You want that g to be a quick "hook" and nothing more.
Actionable steps for better typography
- Check your line height: If you use a font with a deep, loopy lower case letter g, increase your "leading" (line spacing). This prevents the tail of the g from crashing into the letters on the line below, which is a common amateur design mistake.
- Audit your brand: Look at your current logo or headers. Does the g match the vibe? A loopy g says "tradition," while a straight g says "efficiency." If your tech startup is using a 19th-century looptail, you might be sending the wrong message.
- Test for legibility: If you’re choosing a font for a website, type "egg" and "googol" in a small size. If the g's look like blurry circles, the font isn't optimized for screens.
- Handwriting practice: Try drawing a looptail g right now. Most people start at the top, but the trick is to treat it like two separate circles connected by a 'Z' shape. It's a fun party trick if you’re into that kind of thing.
The lower case letter g isn't just a letter; it's a bridge between the handwritten past and the digital future. Understanding how it works won't just make you better at Wordle; it'll give you a deeper appreciation for the invisible design that shapes everything you read.
Pay attention to the ear. Watch the loop. Stop ignoring the most hardworking character in your alphabet.