Swash (typography)
Typographical flourish found on some letterforms, particularly in italics / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A swash is a typographical flourish, such as an exaggerated serif, terminal, tail, entry stroke, etc., on a glyph.[1][2][3] The use of swash characters dates back to at least the 16th century, as they can be seen in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi's La Operina, which is dated 1522. As with italic type in general, they were inspired by the conventions of period handwriting.[4] Arrighi's designs influenced designers in Italy and particularly in France.[5]