Shortform
“perceiving” in braille
Written p-e-r-c-v-g — 10 letters cut to 6 letters of abbreviation, then written in 5 cells. That is 5 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-2-3-4, then dots 1-2-4-5-6, then dots 1-4, then dots 1-2-3-6, then dots 1-2-4-5
Unicode ⠏⠻⠉⠧⠛ — 10 letters in 5 cells
How to recognise it
p-er-c-v-g at five cells — the longest shortform on the entire list. It still saves five cells over spelling the word out, which is the point.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “perceiving” loses 4 letters — e, i, i, n — to become percvg. Then it contracts again: er is a single cell, which is how 6 letters of abbreviation fit into 5 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | perceiving | 10 cells |
| Abbreviated | percvg | 6 letters |
| Written | 5 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “perceiving” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names three longer words that keep it: apperceiving ⠁⠏⠏⠻⠉⠧⠛, unperceiving ⠥⠝⠏⠻⠉⠧⠛ and misperceiving ⠍⠊⠎⠏⠻⠉⠧⠛. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “perceivings” is ⠏⠻⠉⠧⠛⠎ (10.9.5).
Words that only look like it
This begins with the same letters, is not on the Shortforms List, and is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| perceivingness | 9 cells |
Learn it with the -ceiving words
This is one of 4 shortforms built to the same shape — the -ceive shortform, then a g: conceiving (concvg), deceiving (dcvg), receiving (rcvg).
What these 5 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3-4 | the letter p; the word “people” standing alone | |
| 1-2-4-5-6 | the letters er inside a word | |
| 1-4 | the letter c; the word “can” standing alone | |
| 1-2-3-6 | the letter v; the word “very” standing alone | |
| 1-2-4-5 | the letter g; the word “go” standing alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is never written: the word “perceiving” does not occur in the book. It is one of 24, out of 182, that the story has no use for.
Check your own text
The translator writes “perceiving” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“perceiving” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: percvg in 5 cells, not 10 letters.
