A stroke is a general term that refers to any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line that makes up the main parts of a character. Strokes may be straight, like in w, k, and l, or curved, like in c, o, and s.

It's easy to confuse the stroke with a stem, which is a type of stroke. As an example, some letterforms with two diagonals, like A or V, have a stem (often the first stroke) and an arm (the supporting diagonal).^[1]