Shortform
“letter” in braille
Written l-r — 6 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 4 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-2-3, then dots 1-2-3-5
Unicode ⠇⠗ — 6 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
l-r in two cells, and it carries six endings including -ed, -er, -ers and -ing. Lettered, letterer, lettering and letterless all keep it, which is unusual for a stem this short.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “letter” loses 4 letters — e, t, t, e — to become lr. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | letter | 6 cells |
| Abbreviated | lr | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 27 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in 24 of them. The endings that survive are -s, -ed, -er, -ers, -ing, -less. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| letters | -s | 3 cells | |
| lettered | -ed | 3 cells | |
| letterer | -er | 3 cells | |
| letterers | -ers | 4 cells | |
| lettering | -ing | 3 cells | |
| letterless | -less | 4 cells |
Words that only look like it
Three dictionary words begin with it and are not built on it. Each begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| letteret | 7 cells | |
| letterin | 6 cells | |
| letterure | 8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone | |
| 1-2-3-5 | the letter r; the word “rather” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “letter” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“letter” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: lr in 2 cells, not 6 letters.
