Shortform
“conceiving” in braille
Written c-o-n-c-v-g — 10 letters cut to 6 letters of abbreviation, then written in 4 cells. That is 6 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 2-5, then dots 1-4, then dots 1-2-3-6, then dots 1-2-4-5
Unicode ⠒⠉⠧⠛ — 10 letters in 4 cells
How to recognise it
The conceive shortform with a g on the end. Every -ceiving word on the list is its -ceive partner plus a g, so learning four words gets you eight.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “conceiving” loses 4 letters — e, i, i, n — to become concvg. Then it contracts again: con is a single cell, which is how 6 letters of abbreviation fit into 4 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | conceiving | 10 cells |
| Abbreviated | concvg | 6 letters |
| Written | 4 cells |
Longer words that keep it
The Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names no longer word that keeps “conceiving”. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “conceivings” is ⠒⠉⠧⠛⠎ (10.9.5).
Learn it with the -ceiving words
This is one of 4 shortforms built to the same shape — the -ceive shortform, then a g: deceiving (dcvg), perceiving (percvg), receiving (rcvg).
What these 4 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 | |
| 1-2-4-5 | the letter g; the word “go” 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 “conceiving” 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 “conceiving” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“conceiving” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: concvg in 4 cells, not 10 letters.
