Shortform
“good” in braille
Written g-d — 4 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 2 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-2-4-5, then dots 1-4-5
Unicode ⠛⠙ — 4 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
g-d, and it carries seven endings: s, er, ers, ly, ness, ship and less. No other shortform carries more, which makes it the single best argument for measuring endings word by word rather than as one list.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “good” loses 2 letters — o, o — to become gd. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | good | 4 cells |
| Abbreviated | gd | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 58 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in 47 of them. The endings that survive are -s, -er, -ers, -ly, -ness, -ship, -less. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| goods | -s | 3 cells | |
| gooder | -er | 3 cells | |
| gooders | -ers | 4 cells | |
| goodly | -ly | 4 cells | |
| goodness | -ness | 4 cells | |
| goodship | -ship | 5 cells | |
| goodless | -less | 4 cells |
Words that only look like it
Eleven dictionary words begin with these letters and have nothing to do with the word; these are the ones you might actually meet. Each begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| gooding | 5 cells | |
| goodishness | 8 cells | |
| goodenia | 7 cells |
What these 2 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-4-5 | the letter g; the word “go” standing alone | |
| 1-4-5 | the letter d; the word “do” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “good” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“good” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: gd in 2 cells, not 4 letters.
