In typography, the tail is the descending, often decorative stroke on the letter Q. Here's our trick to help you remember the term — think of the uppercase Q letter as a cat sitting with its back to you and its tail hanging off the baseline.

The tail also refers to the descending diagonal stroke on K or R. Depending on the typeface, the tail can be curved, tapered, or have a ball terminal, like the Carousel typeface.^[1]