A curlicue, or alternatively curlycue, in the visual arts, is a fancy twist, or curl, composed usually from a series of concentric circles. It is a recurring motif in architecture (as decoration to the lintel/architrave above a door), in calligraphy and in general scrollwork. The word can also refer to a specific kind of origami, made out of a single stripe of paper that can be transformed in many geometric shapes.
See also
- Scrollwork
- Arabesque (European art)
- Swash (typography)
- Calligraphy, in which curlicues are a frequent adornment of lavish text
- Sinhala script, the script used to write the Sinhala language, composed almost entirely of curlicues