Shortform
“quick” in braille
Written q-k — 5 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 3 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-2-3-4-5, then dots 1-3
Unicode ⠟⠅ — 5 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
q-k in two cells, skipping three letters in the middle. It takes five endings, and the ones it refuses are the giveaway: quicker and quickest keep it, quicked and quicking do not.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “quick” loses 3 letters — u, i, c — to become qk. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | quick | 5 cells |
| Abbreviated | qk | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “quick” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names 39 longer words that keep it, among them quicky ⠟⠅⠽, quicken ⠟⠅⠢, quicker ⠟⠅⠻, quickie ⠟⠅⠊⠑, quickly ⠟⠅⠇⠽ and unquick ⠥⠝⠟⠅. 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: “quicks” is ⠟⠅⠎ (10.9.5).
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| quicks | -s | 3 cells | |
| quicker | -er | 3 cells | |
| quickly | -ly | 4 cells | |
| quickest | -est | 4 cells | |
| quickness | -ness | 4 cells |
Words that only look like it
These begin with the same letters, are not on the Shortforms List, and have a vowel straight after them, where rule 10.9.3 does not use the shortform; each is written out in full.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| quicked | 6 cells | |
| quicking | 6 cells | |
| quickenance | 8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3-4-5 | the letter q; the word “quite” standing alone | |
| 1-3 | the letter k; the word “knowledge” 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 5 times and saves 15 cells. That is 0.04% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 138th of the 158 contractions used.
The words it is written in: quick (2), quickly (2), quicker (1).
Check your own text
The translator writes “quick” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“quick” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: qk in 2 cells, not 5 letters.
