A decorative spiral, loop, or curled design, especially in handwriting or as an ornament.
American English coinage (19th century), likely from 'curly' plus 'cue' (from the letter Q, which has a curly tail), originally referring to the fancy Q-shaped flourishes in cursive writing.
The 'cue' part comes from the letter Q's curly shape, and this word really took off in America where it became the standard term for those fancy swirls you add to decorative letters—it's a great example of how letter shapes influence language!
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