We present a technique for pruning of large lexicons for recognition of cursive script words. The technique involves extraction and representation of downward pen-strokes from the cursive word (off-line or on-line) to obtain a generalized descriptor which provides a coarse characterization of word shape. The descriptor is matched with ideal descriptors of lexicon entries organized as a trie. When used with a static lexicon of 21,000 words, the accuracy of reduction to 1000 words exceeds 95%.