Shortform
“beneath” in braille
Written b-e-n — 7 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 5 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 2-3, then dots 1-3-4-5
Unicode ⠆⠝ — 7 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
The be- sign then an n. It is one of the two be- words outside the five thousand commonest English words, with “beside”. Its second cell is an n, which standing alone is the word “not”.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “beneath” loses 4 letters — e, a, t, h — to become ben. 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 | beneath | 7 cells |
| Abbreviated | ben | 3 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “beneath” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names two longer words that keep it: beneathdeck ⠆⠝⠙⠑⠉⠅ and beneathground ⠆⠝⠛⠗⠨⠙. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “beneaths” is ⠆⠝⠎ (10.9.5).
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), below (bel), 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 | |
| 1-3-4-5 | the letter n; the word “not” standing alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is never written: the word “beneath” does not occur in the book. It is one of 24, out of 182, that the story has no use for.
Check your own text
The translator writes “beneath” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“beneath” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: ben in 2 cells, not 7 letters.
