Mutsumi no

An Introduction to Orthic

Orthic is a shorthand writing system that substitutes the English alphabet with much simpler letters that flow together. Words are spelled out in full, removing ambiguity and making it easy to read back. When you are familiar with it you will be able to write 2-3 times faster than your normal handwriting.

This course teaches the fully-written style of Orthic, and covers the alphabet and letter combinations. Work through each lesson at your own pace, making sure to do the reading and writing exercises. Once you are finished you will be able to slowly read and write most things in Orthic, and will be in an excellent place to continue improving by yourself.

Download a printable pdf of the entire course and the answers.

    Jump to a particular lesson:
  1. a, i, b, c, n, v, j
  2. m, t, d, k, g, o
  3. e, s, f, l, p, h
  4. u, r, qu, x, y, z, w
  5. doubled letters, au, ou, sp, ps
  6. ch, ai, ia, fs, ks
  7. wh, wr, ea/ae, sh, io
  8. oa, ao, th, rh, thr, shr
  9. ay, sw, ei, ie, xh, xt, xp, ph
  10. uo, ua, chr, gh, wl, ui, phr, phl, shl
  11. oe, oi, chl, ws, wn, l/r initials, capitals, punctuation

Lesson 1: a, i, b, c, n, v, j

Let's start with some letters that are familiar to you.

C N V

The next two are similar to their lower-case cursive letters:

B J

And let's add two vowels:

I A

Note the direction arrow – write 'i' in an upwards direction and dot the top.

Exercises

Now it's time to put your knowledge into practice. Answers can be found in the separate document 'An Introduction to Orthic – Answers'.

Try reading these words:

Note that the letters in each word are joined together without any breaks.

Now try writing these words:


nav ab ban jib bin

View answers

Lesson 2: m, t, d, k, g, o

Some of these letters look similar but don't worry! There are only two different sizes of the same shape.

K G

'k' & 'g' are the same shape facing different directions. You can tell the difference by remembering that 'g' looks like an uppercase letter G.

Take note of the size difference between 'c' & 'g':

c G

O A
'o' is introduced as a longer 'a'. Elongate the vowel 'ohhh' as you write it, and compare it to the shorter 'a' sound.

In the English alphabet, 'm' is two 'n' letters together, and in Orthic 'm' is double the length of 'n'.
M

n

DT
'd and 't' are similar but 'd' is much flatter and longer. 't' is a short sharp sound. 'D' is heavy and large.

Exercises


Read the following words:


Write the following words:

don it kid bog gnat

Lesson 3: e, s, f, l, p, h


E
'e' looks a lot like 'i', but without the dot.

S

's' is the same shape as 'e', but goes down instead. When they appear in words you distinguish them by looking at how they are joined to the other letters:

P

Very similar to 's' but much longer:



L

'l' is a small circle written clockwise and hangs below the adjacent letters.

L lies low



H

'h' is written counter-clockwise and is much larger than 'l'. Imagine a mouth opened wide to say 'hhhuhhh'.


HOT LOT



Exercises

Read the following words:


Write the following words:
lap ham face sift pale

Answers to Lesson 3

Lesson 4: u, r, qu, x, y, z, w

U

'u' is longer and less steep than 'e':

PUT PET



Qu


Orthic uses 'Qu' as a single letter. Compare it to 'j':

QUAIL JAIL

R

'r' is similar to 'l' but runs counter-clockwise, and usually sits above adjacent letters. When following a descending letter 'r' sits to the right, whereas 'l' sits to the left.

R rides high on the right

L lies low on the left

Z

Make sure to give 'z' a little flick to contrast it with 's'.


Y
'y' slants away in contrast to 's'.


YOB SOB

W

'w' has two forms but always curves upwards. Generally the first form is used at the beginning of a word. Compare it with 'f' and 'c' which curve downwards.



X

You might protest at this point that 'x' looks a lot like 'c' and 'f' together!

Don't worry, the combination 'cf' doesn't occur in English words so 99.99% of the time you can read this as X.

Exercises


Read the following words:



Write the following words:

rule pray zany wax quite yuck




Congratulations!

You've just learned all the letters of the Orthic alphabet! Not so hard, right?

But don't leave just yet! Although we've covered very basic words, there are specific ways to write letter combinations that are important to know.

The next series of lessons will cover the trickiest letter combinations that cannot be figured out using general joining rules.

Lesson 5

Consonants and most vowels can be doubled by simply adding a dot underneath the letter (in contrast to 'i' which has a dot above the letter).


'e' is an exception, and is simply lengthened. It is steeper than 'u'.

Vowel combinations are usually joined smoothly together in a curve.

Here we have two vowel combinations and then an example word below.

Try and read these words, keeping in mind the different lengths and angles of the vowels you have learned.


The first is 'au' with the example word 'aunt' below.

The second is 'ou' with the example word 'out' below.

However, sometimes vowel combinations are written with each vowel separated, or with a sharp angle, when the vowels are sounded separately rather than one sound.

re-enter, Oölite,create, Leo, fiasco, serious, fuel, poem.

This is not a hard and fast rule, use your best judgement on angling when necessary to make it more readable.

Compare the curved joins you've just learned with the angled joins below:


S & P

Since 's' and 'p' are both descending letters, you will curve 's' when it is used with 'p' to make it clearer.

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

keeps sauce totter spill sour

Lesson 6

CH

Combining 'c' and 'h' gets you something that looks like 'h', but hangs below adjacent letters. It can be written either clockwise or counter-clockwise, whichever is easier to write depending on the word.

Here is a new vowel combination. Compare it with 'au' and 'ou'. Can you guess what it is?

? AU OU

It's 'ai'. Compare it with other combinations you've learned.

This same shape can also represent 'ia'.

DIAL LIAR FIAT

However, 'ia; shape will flip around when it comes after a descending consonant (b, y, n, m, s, p)

Note that although 'ia' can flip, 'ai' should never flip. Always write 'ai' the same way.

This flipped shape for 'ia' is altered slightly when it comes before a 't', 'd' or 's'. Take note of the little tick upwards at the end.

Here are all the different 'ia' shapes in the following words:

FS, KS

If you have an 's' after 'f' or 'k' at the end of a word, write the 's' with an upwards direction to make it clearer. This is only at the end of words.

Note that this is a later amendment and you will see 'fs' and 'ks' with a downwards 's' in some earlier material.

Exercises

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

sniffs couch mail socks viaduct opiate

Lesson 7

WH


WH enlarges the 'w' to the same size as 'h'. Note that it doesn't close the circle like h.




WR

The 'w' looks rather different when combined with 'r'. To avoid confusion with 'wer' or 'war' the 'w' sign is flipped around like so:

Do you remember the vowel combination from last lesson? Try to read the new combination in these words:



REAL DEAR BEAR PEAR

It's 'ea' but also 'ae'. Like 'ia' it's written in two different ways depending on which letter it follows.

Following the same rules as 'ia' from last lesson, 'ea' and 'ae' will flip to the second form following descending letters (b, y, n, m, s, p).

BEA/BAE YEA/YAE NEA/NAE MEA/MAE SEA/SAE PEA/PAE

T
his form will also have a little upwards flick before 't', 'd' or 's'.

BEAT/BAET YEAD/YAED NEAS/NAES MEAT/MAET SEAD/SAED PEAS/PAE

SH

Link 's' with an 'h' at the bottom. For neatness the 'h' circle is made smaller.

If you want to write 'sr' you will use a different join to the next letter.

'sh' links from the top of the circle.

'sr' links from the bottom of the the circle (r rides high)

One last vowel combination:

Note that 'bio' uses an angled join because both vowels are spoken as two clear separate sounds.

Exercises

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

whipped audio leash wrecks sriracha algae

Lesson 8


OA AO

TH

'th' combines the letters 't' and 'h'

Although it looks similar to 'wr', it is about double the size.

When ending a word in TH you don't need to complete the circle.

RH

First draw the little 'r' circle, then loop the 'h' circle around it.

Here are three new vowel combinations. Try to figure out what they represent:

They represent 'eu', 'ue' and 'eau'.

THR & SHR

When combining 'r' with 'sh' or 'th', draw 'r' inside inside the larger circle. Join it to the next letter below the 'r' (r rides high).

Exercises

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

neutral protozoan plague diarrhea beauty wreath thrash

Lesson 9

AY

S
imilar to 'ae/ea' and 'ia', this can be written in either way. The second form 'ya' is used when following a descending letter (b, y, n, m, s, p).


DAY SAY

S
W

T

hese two letters combine like the crossed handle of a sword.

UPSWELL SWORD

Here are two new vowel combinations:

Can you guess what they represent?

The only difference between them is the position of the 'i' dot.


FEINT FIEND

XH/XT/XP

The letter 'x' usually has two curves but omits the second curve when followed by these letters:

X
XH XT XP

PH

'h' joins the bottom of 'p'. It is usually written in the first form but can be written as the second form if it is more convenient to join.

PHASE PHYSICS

Compare 'ph' it with these similar joins:

PHOTO PROTO PLOT SHOT

Exercises

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

friend experiment juxtapose stayed exhaust answered veins

Lesson 10

Here are two new vowel combinations.


? ? AU OU

Compare them with others you've already learned and try to read the following words.

BUOY SUAVE

CHR

With a anticlockwise motion, draw a large 'ch' then a smaller 'r' loop inside it.

O
CHRE

The next letter will join under the 'r' (r rides high)

Compare it with 'rh':

RHOMBUS CHROME

GH

GH G H

GHOST COUGH

WL

'wl' also runs nicely together into one shape:

W L WL

O
WL NEWLY

UI

Another vowel combination! Try to read the following words:

B
UILD FRUIT

An important thing to note is that you will not use this form if the previous letter is 'qu'.

In Orthic, the above letter is read as 'qu', not 'q'. Look at how this affects the 'ui', 'ua' and 'uo' combinations:

Q
UITE QUACK QUOTE

You simply omit the 'u' and write the following vowel.

Let's take a look at how 'r' or 'l' will affect 'ph'.

PHR PHL

An 'l' will force you to write the 'h' on the left of 'p', so that both circles neatly run clockwise.

'sh' behaves in a similar way:

SHR SHL


These combinations are fairly rare, but familiarise yourself with their shapes:


DIAPHRAGM PHLEGM SHLUMP SHRUB

Exercises

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

guilty chronic phrase jowl fluoride gherkin guard

Lesson 11

In the following words we have two new vowel combinations. Try to see if you can read them in these words.


WOE SHOES

OIL JOIN

CHL

'chl' is very similar to 'chr' that you just learned but is distinguished by the way it joins to the next letter.

CHLO CHRO

Remember that r rides high and l lies low.

S
CHLOCK CHROME

And now we encounter our two last joins. The end is in sight!

WS

W S WS

T
o avoid creating an awkward circle shape, the 's' is instead looped over the 'w'.

COWS LAWS

W
N

W N WN

This should form one tight shape. Compare it to these similar letter combinations:

AWN WAS WAY AWAY

 

L & R Initials

The letters 'l' and 'r' are distinguished by how they join to other letters. But what if you want to write them as initials?


L R

Start 'l' with a tiny tick at the start to distinguish it from the plain 'r'.

Capitals

Orthic does not use capitals at the beginning of sentences like English. If you need to mark capitals, for example, with names, then you write a slash at the beginning.

Jack, Clay, S.E., L.S.W.R.

Punctuation

Punctuation is written the same as English with a few exceptions.

To avoid confusing hyphens, dashes, and brackets with orthic letters, they are crossed through the middle.

- — ( )


U-TURN

Exercises

Read the following words:

Write the following words:

unknown chlorine Spider-man joist phoenix Samuel L. Jackson

CONGRATULATIONS!

You've now covered fully-written Orthic. What to do next?

Useful links

Orthic Shorthand – The most comprehensive Orthic website with all teaching materials, cheatsheets etc

Orthic subreddit

Cricket's Shorthand Site – Reference guide to Orthic rules, reading materials etc

abbrv – Programme used for writing shorthand systems, including Orthic. Still in development.