In handwriting research, the concept of stroke is used in various ways. In engineering and computer science, there is a tendency to use the term stroke for a single connected component of ink (in Off-line handwriting recognition) or a complete pen-down trace (in on-line handwriting recognition). Thus, such stroke may be a complete character or a part of a character. However, in this definition, a complete word written as connected cursive script should also be called a stroke. This is in conflict with the suggested unitary nature of stroke as a relatively simple shape.

In the research field of handwriting motor control, the term ballistic stroke is used.^[1] It is defined as the trajectory segment between two consecutive minima in the absolute velocity of the pen tip. The time delay between the cortical brain command and a muscle contraction is so large that the 100 millisecond ballistic strokes need to be planned by the brain, as feedback by hand-eye coordination requires a much slower movement than is the case in the normal handwriting process.