Formation of letters, characters or symbols using writing implements according to a recognizable pattern which is designed to communicate with another person can be called as handwriting. A person learns to write by copying shapes from standard copybook. However, handwriting differs from one individual to another as it is an acquired skill due to individual’s neuromuscular coordination and visual perception; therefore, it is habitual as well as individualized. The pictorial appearance of the writing can change from childhood till adolescence, but the individuality will not change as handwriting is a continuous learning process. This individualization is the basic principle in the document examination. However, at times it may be noticed that some people’s handwriting has a similar style and characteristics in common, acquired when these people learn to write by copying letters and words, and tend to take on individual styles with age. But sometimes it may happen that these individual characteristics are also copied often knowingly or unknowingly. Various factors may play hand in this this such as gender and age. In this article we discuss about the comparison of the class characteristics and individual characteristics of friends/acquaintances that are aware of each other’s handwriting and analyze whether their imitation is restricted to class characteristics making the pictorial appearance similar or does the individual characteristics are also copied and ingrained into their personal writing habits based on the gender of the person.

Keywords: Handwriting; Class characteristics; Individual characteristic; Gender.