Shortform
“above” in braille
Written a-b-v — 5 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 2 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2, then dots 1-2-3-6
Unicode ⠁⠃⠧ — 5 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-b-v keeps the consonants and drops both vowels after them — no o, no e. Three cells rather than the two its neighbour “about” needs, because a-b was already taken.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “above” loses 2 letters — o, e — to become abv. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | above | 5 cells |
| Abbreviated | abv | 3 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 8 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in 4 of them. The one ending that survives is -s. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| aboves | -s | 4 cells |
Words that only look like it
Compound words built on it go their own way, and the reference decides each one from a list rather than a rule. Each begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| abovedeck | 8 cells | |
| aboveproof | 9 cells | |
| abovesaid | 9 cells | |
| abovestairs | 10 cells |
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the letter a | |
| 1-2 | the letter b; the word “but” standing alone | |
| 1-2-3-6 | the letter v; the word “very” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “above” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“above” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: abv in 3 cells, not 5 letters.
