Shortform
“against” in braille
Written a-g-s-t — 7 letters cut to 4 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 4 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2-4-5, then dots 3-4
Unicode ⠁⠛⠌ — 7 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-g-st, and the st is one cell rather than two, so a seven-letter word lands in three. It is the standard example of a shortform that is contracted again after being abbreviated.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “against” loses 3 letters — a, i, n — to become agst. Then it contracts again: st is a single cell, which is how 4 letters of abbreviation fit into 3 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | against | 7 cells |
| Abbreviated | agst | 4 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
It carries no endings
Nothing derived from “against” keeps this shortform: of the one English word that begins with it, the reference spells it out. These 3 cells write the bare word and nothing else. “good” is the opposite case — it carries seven different endings.
Words that only look like it
One dictionary word extends it, and the reference does not carry the shortform into it. It begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| againstand | 6 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 | |
| 1-2-4-5 | the letter g; the word “go” standing alone | |
| 3-4 | the letters st inside a word, and the word “still” alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “against” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“against” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: agst in 3 cells, not 7 letters.
