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 keeps its cells before an added s, and in the three longer words the Shortforms List names: belowdeck, belowground and belowmentioned. 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 |
Longer words that keep it
For “below” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names three longer words that keep it: belowdeck ⠆⠇⠙⠑⠉⠅, belowground ⠆⠇⠛⠗⠨⠙ and belowmentioned ⠆⠇⠍⠢⠰⠝⠫. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “belows” is ⠆⠇⠎ (10.9.5).
| 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: 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 |
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 9 cells. That is 0.03% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 145th of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “below” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “below” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“below” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: bel in 2 cells, not 5 letters.
