Initial-letter contraction
“cannot” in braille
Two cells for the whole word, however long it is — 6 letters here, a saving of 4 cells. “cannot” is not in the 5,000-word frequency list this site measures against, so it is one of the quieter entries here.
Dots 4-5-6, then dots 1-4
Unicode ⠸⠉ — 6 letters in two cells
How to recognise it
Six letters in two cells, and the only contraction here for what is arguably two words. Nothing in English contains it, so this is one to learn as a whole and move on.
The second cell is the letter c
The second cell is the word's own first letter — the simpler half of this list. The other nine use a groupsign instead.
Where it may appear inside a longer word
Nowhere. Inside another word these letters are just letters; the contraction is used only when “cannot” stands alone.
You will meet it as a word, not a fragment
That makes it unusual. Some on this list earn most of their keep buried in longer words — “part” turns up in nineteen of them — but this is not one of those. Nor is the word itself in that 5,000, so this is one to recognise on sight rather than one to drill.
The other 5 words under dots 4-5-6
A small group, so the prefix is already a strong clue.
Check your own text
Type “cannot” into the translator with Grade 2 selected to see both cells, or take the full list.
“cannot” in braille as an image
Both cells as a picture: dots 4, 5 and 6, then dots 1 and 4 — the whole word in two cells rather than 6 letters.
