Shortform
“must” in braille
Written m-s-t — 4 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 2 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-3-4, then dots 3-4
Unicode ⠍⠌ — 4 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
m-st in two cells, and it is the great cautionary example of this list: 49 English words begin with “must” and the reference carries the shortform into only eight of them. More look-alikes than any other shortform, by a wide margin.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “must” loses 1 letter — u — to become mst. Then it contracts again: st is a single cell, which is how 3 letters of abbreviation fit into 2 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | must | 4 cells |
| Abbreviated | mst | 3 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Endings it keeps
Of the 49 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in 8 of them. The one ending that survives is -s. Everything else is spelled out.
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| musts | -s | 3 cells |
Words that only look like it
Forty-one words begin with these letters and are not this word — the most on the list. Each begins with the same letters and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| mustache | 6 cells | |
| muster | 4 cells | |
| mustang | 6 cells | |
| musting | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3-4 | the letter m; the word “more” standing alone | |
| 3-4 | the letters st inside a word, and the word “still” alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “must” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“must” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: mst in 2 cells, not 4 letters.
