Shortform
“receive” in braille
Written r-c-v — 7 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 4 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-2-3-5, then dots 1-4, then dots 1-2-3-6
Unicode ⠗⠉⠧ — 7 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
r-c-v, three cells, and it takes -s, -d and -r: receives, received and receiver all keep it. The -d and -r are the ordinary -ed and -er endings on a stem that already ends in e.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “receive” loses 4 letters — e, e, i, e — to become rcv. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | receive | 7 cells |
| Abbreviated | rcv | 3 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Longer words that keep it
For “receive” the Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names six longer words that keep it: preceive ⠏⠗⠉⠧, received ⠗⠉⠧⠙, receiver ⠗⠉⠧⠗, preceiver ⠏⠗⠉⠧⠗, unreceived ⠥⠝⠗⠉⠧⠙ and receivership ⠗⠉⠧⠗⠩⠊⠏. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “receives” is ⠗⠉⠧⠎ (10.9.5).
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| receives | -s | 4 cells | |
| received | -d | 4 cells | |
| receiver | -r | 4 cells |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| receivedness | 9 cells |
Learn it with the -ceive words
This is one of 4 shortforms built to the same shape — an opening cell, then c-v: conceive (concv), deceive (dcv), perceive (percv).
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3-5 | the letter r; the word “rather” standing alone | |
| 1-4 | the letter c; the word “can” standing alone | |
| 1-2-3-6 | the letter v; the word “very” 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 1 time and saves 4 cells. That is 0.01% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 156th of the 158 contractions used.
The one word it is written in: received (1).
Check your own text
The translator writes “receive” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“receive” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: rcv in 3 cells, not 7 letters.
