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Here's a fact that surprises most people: "j" is the youngest letter in the Latin alphabet. Every other letter traces back thousands of years to Phoenician or Greek origins — "j" doesn't. For most of history, it was just a decorative tail added to "i," used at the end of Roman numerals (think "iij" for three) or as a stylistic flourish in certain words.
It wasn't until the 1500s that scholars started arguing "i" and "j" represented genuinely different sounds, and it took a couple more centuries before "j" was consistently recognized as its own letter in English.
That shared history is still visible in the shape: "j" is the only lowercase letter combining a tittle with a descender, since it's essentially "i" with an extended, curling tail. Every other dotted letter stays at x-height, and every other descender skips the dot entirely.
This glyph series breaks down every letter like this — history, anatomy, and the quirks font makers deal with constantly. ✍️ #TypeDesign #Typography #FontDesign
Read more: https://letterhanna.com/lowercase-j-glyph-history-and-design/