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 |
Endings it keeps
Of the 39 English words that begin with these letters, the reference keeps the shortform in 35 of them. The endings that survive are -s, -er, -ly, -est, -ness. Everything else is spelled out.
| 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
Four words begin with these letters without being built on the adjective. Each begins with the same letters and 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 |
Check your own text
The translator writes “quick” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“quick” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: qk in 2 cells, not 5 letters.
