Shortform
“conceive” in braille
Written c-o-n-c-v — 8 letters cut to 5 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 5 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 2-5, then dots 1-4, then dots 1-2-3-6
Unicode ⠒⠉⠧ — 8 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
The con sign, then c-v. All four -ceive words end c-v and differ only in what comes before; this is the one that opens with a contraction rather than a plain letter.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “conceive” loses 3 letters — e, i, e — to become concv. Then it contracts again: con is a single cell, which is how 5 letters of abbreviation fit into 3 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | conceive | 8 cells |
| Abbreviated | concv | 5 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 4 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in every one. The endings that survive are -s, -d, -r. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| conceives | -s | 4 cells | |
| conceived | -d | 4 cells | |
| conceiver | -r | 4 cells |
Learn it with the -ceive words
This is one of 4 shortforms built to the same shape — an opening cell, then c-v — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: deceive (dcv), perceive (percv), receive (rcv).
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 2-5 | the letters cc between two letters; the prefix con- at the start of a word; the colon | |
| 1-4 | the letter c; the word “can” standing alone | |
| 1-2-3-6 | the letter v; the word “very” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “conceive” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“conceive” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: concv in 3 cells, not 8 letters.
