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 |
Longer words that keep it
For “above” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names four longer words that keep it: aboveboard ⠁⠃⠧⠃⠕⠜⠙, aboveground ⠁⠃⠧⠛⠗⠨⠙, hereinabove ⠐⠓⠔⠁⠃⠧ and abovementioned ⠁⠃⠧⠍⠢⠰⠝⠫. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “aboves” is ⠁⠃⠧⠎ (10.9.5).
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| aboves | -s | 4 cells |
Words that only look like it
These begin with the same letters, are not on the Shortforms List, and are 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 |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is written 3 times and saves 6 cells. That is 0.02% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 149th of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “above” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “above” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“above” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: abv in 3 cells, not 5 letters.
