Shortform
“today” in braille
Written t-d — 5 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 3 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 2-3-4-5, then dots 1-4-5
Unicode ⠞⠙ — 5 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
t-d in two cells, one of four to- words that all start with a t. The second cell is the whole distinction: d for today, m for tomorrow, n for tonight.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “today” loses 3 letters — o, a, y — to become td. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | today | 5 cells |
| Abbreviated | td | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Longer words that keep it
The Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names no longer word that keeps “today”. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out. An added s keeps the cells as well: “todays” is ⠞⠙⠎ (10.9.5).
| Word | In braille | Ending | Cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| todays | -s | 3 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 |
|---|---|---|
| todayish | 6 cells |
Learn it with the to- words
This is one of 4 shortforms built to the same shape — a t, then one letter: together (tgr), tomorrow (tm), tonight (tn).
What these 2 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3-4-5 | the letter t; the word “that” standing alone | |
| 1-4-5 | the letter d; the word “do” 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 3 cells. That is 0.01% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 158th of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “today” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “today” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“today” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: td in 2 cells, not 5 letters.
