Shortform
“also” in braille
Written a-l — 4 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 2 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2-3
Unicode ⠁⠇ — 4 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
a-l, and the only one of the six al- words that stops at two cells. That makes it the odd one out in its own family: everything else in the group needs a third cell to be distinguishable.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “also” loses 2 letters — s, o — to become al. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | also | 4 cells |
| Abbreviated | al | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
It carries no endings
Nothing derived from “also” keeps this shortform: of the 2 English words that begin with it, the reference spells every one out. These 2 cells write the bare word and nothing else. “good” is the opposite case — it carries seven different endings.
Words that only look like it
Two dictionary words start with these letters and mean nothing like it. Each begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| alsoon | 6 cells | |
| alsophila | 9 cells |
Learn it with the al- words
This is one of 6 shortforms built to the same shape — a-l, then what tells them apart — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: almost (alm), already (alr), although (alth), altogether (alt), always (alw).
What these 2 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 | |
| 1-2-3 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “also” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“also” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: al in 2 cells, not 4 letters.
