Shortform

“necessary” in braille

Written n-e-c — 9 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 6 cells saved every time the word appears.

dots 1-3-4-5, then dots 1-5, then dots 1-4

Unicode ⠝⠑⠉ — 9 letters in 3 cells

How to recognise it

n-e-c, nine letters in three cells — the word simply cut short after three. It has no family, no endings and no look-alikes: nothing else in English begins with these nine letters, and nothing derived from it keeps the contraction.

Two steps, not one

Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “necessary” loses 6 letters — e, s, s, a, r, y — to become nec. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.

“necessary” step by step
StageWhat it isCells
Spelled outnecessary9 cells
Abbreviatednec3 letters
Written3 cells

It carries no endings

No English word begins with “necessary” except the word itself, so there is nothing for an ending rule to decide here. These 3 cells write the bare word and nothing else. “good” is the opposite case — it carries seven different endings.

What these 3 cells mean elsewhere

Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:

The cells of “necessary” read separately
CellDotsWhat it is elsewhere
1-3-4-5the letter n; the word “not” standing alone
1-5the letter e; the word “every” standing alone
1-4the letter c; the word “can” standing alone

Check your own text

The translator writes “necessary” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.

“necessary” in braille as an image

The word as it is actually written: nec in 3 cells, not 9 letters.

"necessary" in braille as a Grade 2 shortform: 3 cells rather than the 9 an uncontracted spelling would take.

Download the PNGCC BY 4.0.