Shortform
“below” in braille
Written b-e-l — 5 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 3 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 2-3, then dots 1-2-3
Unicode ⠆⠇ — 5 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
The be- sign then an l, and the l alone is the word “like”. It takes a plural and nothing else, which is true of five of the eight be- words — they are prepositions, and prepositions have little to derive. Its opposite, “above”, is not a be- word at all: it is a-b-v in three cells.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “below” loses 2 letters — o, w — to become bel. Then it contracts again: be is a single cell, which is how 3 letters of abbreviation fit into 2 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | below | 5 cells |
| Abbreviated | bel | 3 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 4 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in every one. The one ending that survives is -s. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| belows | -s | 3 cells |
Learn it with the be- words
This is one of 8 shortforms built to the same shape — the be- sign, then one letter — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: because (bec), before (bef), behind (beh), beneath (ben), beside (bes), between (bet), beyond (bey).
What these 2 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 | the letters bb between two letters; the prefix be- at the start of a word; the word “be” standing alone; the semicolon | |
| 1-2-3 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “below” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“below” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: bel in 2 cells, not 5 letters.
