Initial-letter contraction
“ought” in braille
Two cells for the whole word, however long it is — 5 letters here, a saving of 3 cells. “ought” is not in the 5,000-word frequency list this site measures against, so it is one of the quieter entries here.
Dots 5, then dots 1-2-5-6
Unicode ⠐⠳ — 5 letters in two cells
How to recognise it
The only contraction on this list that is more useful inside words than as a word: “ought” does not appear at all among the 5,000 commonest English words, yet thought, brought and bought carry it constantly. Its second cell is the ou groupsign, not an o.
The second cell is the “ou” sign, not a o
You would expect a o. What follows the prefix is the ou groupsign, chosen for the shape of the word rather than its spelling. Nine of the thirty-three do this.
Where it may appear inside a longer word
Only at the start and in the middle and at the end and of a word. UEB allows these inside a longer word only where the letters keep their meaning, which spelling cannot decide, so this site settled it by counting: every English word containing “ought”, checked against the reference, split by where the letters sat.
Longer words that keep it
4 words among the 5,000 commonest in English are written with this contraction inside them. These are some of them, and every one was taken from this site's own output rather than chosen by hand.
| Word | In braille (Grade 2) | Grade 1 | Grade 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| thought | 7 cells | 3 cells | |
| brought | 7 cells | 4 cells | |
| bought | 6 cells | 3 cells | |
| thoughts | 8 cells | 4 cells |
The other 21 words under dots 5
The largest of the three prefix groups, so the prefix itself tells you little — the second cell does the work.
character, day, ever, father, here, know, lord, mother, name, one, part, question, right, some, there, through, time, under, where, work, young.
Check your own text
Type “ought” into the translator with Grade 2 selected to see both cells, or take the full list.
“ought” in braille as an image
Both cells as a picture: dot 5, then dots 1, 2, 5 and 6 — the whole word in two cells rather than 5 letters.
