Tarwees (Serif)

I kept seeing little caps and shoulders at the tops of strokes in classical Arabic, and I learned they have a name: tarwees (ترويس). They behave like Latin serifs — they anchor a stroke and hint at the pen that drew it. They're loudest in Naskh and Thuluth.

Tarwees Across Scripts

Tarwees is most commonly associated with classical, pen-based styles, especially Naskh and Thuluth, where the logic of the reed pen produces clear terminal behavior. It is much less typical in scripts that prioritize speed or compression like Ruqʿah, and it tends to be treated differently or minimized in more geometric traditions like many forms of Kufi. Like serifs in Latin, tarwees can subtly change tone and readability, even when the underlying proportions stay the same.