Shortform
“little” in braille
Written l-l — 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
Unicode ⠇⠇ — 6 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
l-l, the same letter twice, six letters in two cells. It takes -r rather than -er, because the stem already ends in e — “littler” is little plus r.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “little” loses 4 letters — i, t, t, e — to become ll. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | little | 6 cells |
| Abbreviated | ll | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “little” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names 10 longer words that keep it, among them littled ⠇⠇⠙, littler ⠇⠇⠗, belittle ⠆⠇⠇, littlest ⠇⠇⠌, belittled ⠆⠇⠇⠙ and belittler ⠆⠇⠇⠗. In a word the list does not name, the shortform is still used where it begins the word and no vowel or y follows (10.9.3); anywhere else the word is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “littles” is ⠇⠇⠎ (10.9.5).
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| littles | -s | 3 cells | |
| littler | -r | 3 cells | |
| littleness | -ness | 4 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 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is written 126 times and saves 504 cells. That is 1.46% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 18th of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “little” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “little” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“little” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: ll in 2 cells, not 6 letters.
