Shortform
“across” in braille
Written a-c-r — 6 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 3 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-4, then dots 1-2-3-5
Unicode ⠁⠉⠗ — 6 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-c-r, one cell more than “according” for a word three letters shorter. The reference records no derived form of it at all, so this one is only ever the bare word.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “across” loses 3 letters — o, s, s — to become acr. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | across | 6 cells |
| Abbreviated | acr | 3 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
It carries no endings
No English word begins with “across” except the word itself, so there is nothing for an ending rule to decide here. These 3 cells write the bare word and nothing else. “good” is the opposite case — it carries seven different endings.
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 | |
| 1-4 | the letter c; the word “can” standing alone | |
| 1-2-3-5 | the letter r; the word “rather” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “across” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“across” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: acr in 3 cells, not 6 letters.
