Shortform
“could” in braille
Written c-d — 5 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 3 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-4, then dots 1-4-5
Unicode ⠉⠙ — 5 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
c-d, and it belongs with “would” and “should” — each is the word’s opening sound plus a d. All three take -est and refuse every other ending, which says more about archaic English than about braille.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “could” loses 3 letters — o, u, l — to become cd. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | could | 5 cells |
| Abbreviated | cd | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 6 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in 2 of them. The one ending that survives is -est. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| couldest | -est | 4 cells |
Words that only look like it
The contracted spellings people actually write are not contracted in braille. Each begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| couldn | 5 cells | |
| couldnt | 6 cells | |
| couldna | 6 cells |
Learn it with the modal shortforms
This is one of 3 shortforms built to the same shape — the opening sound, then a d — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: should (shd), would (wd).
What these 2 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | the letter c; the word “can” standing alone | |
| 1-4-5 | the letter d; the word “do” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “could” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“could” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: cd in 2 cells, not 5 letters.
