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English Braille Grade-2 Braille British Revised Braille
Script type	Alphabet (non-linear)
Period	1902
Print basis	English alphabet
Languages	English
Related scripts
Parent systems	night writing early braille French Braille English Braille
Child systems	unified international braille Unified English Braille Irish Braille Hebrew Braille
Unicode
Unicode range	U+2800 to U+283F

This article containsUnicode Braille characters. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofBraille characters.

English Braille, also known asGrade 2 Braille,^[1] is thebraille alphabet used forEnglish. It consists of around 250 letters (phonograms),numerals, punctuation, formatting marks, contractions, and abbreviations (logograms). Some English Braille letters, such as⠿⟨for⟩,^[2] correspond to more than one letter in print.

There are three levels of complexity in English Braille. Grade 1 is a nearly one-to-one transcription of printed English and is restricted to basic literacy. Grade 2, which is nearly universal beyond basic literacy materials, abandons one-to-one transcription in many places (such as the letter⠿⟨for⟩) and adds hundreds of abbreviations and contractions. Both Grade 1 and Grade 2 have been standardized. "Grade 3" is any of various personalshorthands that are almost never found in publications. Most of this article describes the 1994 American edition of Grade 2 Braille, which is largely equivalent to British Grade 2 Braille.^[3] Some of the differences withUnified English Braille, which was officially adopted by various countries between 2005 and 2012, are discussed at the end.

Braille is frequently portrayed^{[by whom?]} as a re-encoding of theEnglish orthography used by sighted people. However, braille is a separate writing system, not a variant of the printed English alphabet.^[4]

Braille was introduced to Britain in 1861. In 1876, a French-based system with a few hundred English contractions and abbreviations was adopted as the predominant script in Great Britain. However, the contractions and abbreviations proved unsatisfactory, and in 1902 the current grade-2 system, called Revised Braille, was adopted in theBritish Commonwealth.^[5] In 1878, the ideal of basing all braille alphabets of the world on the original French alphabetic order was accepted by Britain, Germany, and Egypt (seeInternational Braille). In the United States at the time, three scripts were used: non-brailleNew York Point;American Braille, which was reordered so that the most frequent letters were the ones with the fewest dots; and a variation of English Braille, which was reordered to match the English alphabet, assigning the valueswxyz to the letters that, in France and England, stood forxyzç. A partially contracted English Braille, Grade1+1⁄2,^[6] was adopted in Britain in 1918, and fully contracted Grade 2, with a few minor concessions to the Americans, was adopted in 1932.^[7] The concessions were to swap the British two-dot capital sign with the one-dot emphasis sign, which had generally been omitted anyway (as capitals had been inNew York Point), to drop a few religious contractions from general usage, and to introduce a rule stating that contractions and abbreviations should not span "major" syllable boundaries.^[5]

In 1991, an American proposal was made forUnified English Braille, intended to eliminate the confusion caused by competing standards for academic uses of English Braille.^[8][9] After several design revisions, it has since been adopted by the Commonwealth countries starting in 2005, and by the United States (starting a gradual introduction after 2012). The chief differences with Revised Braille are in punctuation, symbols, and formatting, more accurately reflecting print conventions in matters such as brackets, mathematical notation, and typefaces.

The 64 braille patterns are arranged into decades based on the numerical order of those patterns. The first decade are the numerals 1 through 0, which utilize only the top and mid row of the cell; the 2nd through 4th decades are derived from the first by adding dots to the bottom row; the 5th decade is created by shifting the first decade downwards. In addition, for each decade there are two additional mirror-image patterns, and finally there are three patterns that utilize only the bottom row of the cell. The final pattern, the empty cell⟨⠀⟩, is used as aspace; it has the same width as the others.

Cells 1 through 25 plus 40 (w) are assigned to the 26 letters of thebasic Latin alphabet. The other 37 cells are often used for punctuation and typically assigned different values in different languages. The English grade-two values are as follows; cells with dots on only the right side do not have equivalents in printed English and are explained in the notes.

The 64 braille cells and their values in English Grade-2 Braille

	main sequence											shifted right
1st decade	1· a	2· b	3· c	4· d	5· e	6· f	7· g	8· h	9· i	0· j		(accent)*	(abbrev.)§
2nd decade	k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t		st· /	ar
3rd decade	u	v	x	y	z	and	for	of	the	with		-ing	(num)*·-ble†
4th decade	ch	gh	sh	th	wh	ed	er	ou	ow	w		(disp)· (emph)*§	(abbrev.)§
5th decade	,·-ea-	;·-bb-	:·-cc-	.·-dd-†	en	!·-ff-· to†	()·-gg-	?· “	in	”· by†		(abbrev.)§	(letter)*§
bottom row	'		–·com-†									(caps)*§	(space)

*Formatting marks, explained below

^§Abbreviation signs, illustrated below

^†Abolished inUnified English Braille

^¤ The period,⟨⠲⟩, is distinguished from the decimal point,⟨⠨⟩. The apostrophe,⟨⠄⟩, is distinguished from the closing quotation mark marks.

The English Braille alphabet has letters that correspond directly to the 26 letters of the English print alphabet plusligatures that are equivalent todigraphs and sequences in print.^[10]

a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j		(accent)
k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t		st	ar
u	v	x	y	z	and	for	of	the	with		-ing	-ble†
ch	gh	sh	th	wh	ed	er	ou	ow	w		(emph.)
-ea-	-bb-	-cc-	-dd-†	en	-ff-	-gg-		in			(caps)	(letter)

^†Abolished in Unified English Braille

Some of these ligatures transcribe common words, such asand orof, but they are not words: Pronunciation and meaning are ignored, and only spelling is relevant. For example,⠮⟨the⟩ is commonly used when the sequence of print lettersthe appears, not just for the word "the". That is,⠮⟨the⟩ is theletter "the" in braille, as in the two-letter word⠮⠝then (the-n). Similarly,hand is writtenh-and,roof (which sounds nothing like the word "of") is writtenr-o-of, andforest is written with three letters in braille,⠿⠑⠌for-e-st.^[11] Numbers are used this way as well—7th is written⠼⠛⠹#-7-th, and here printed English approximates normal practice in braille. There are numerous conventions for when a print sequence is "contracted" this way in braille, and when it is spelled out in full.

The ligatures⟨-ing⟩ and⟨-ble⟩ may not begin a word (as in *bled:⠼⠙ would be read instead as⟨4⟩), but are used everywhere else (as inproblem, trouble).^[12]

The ligatures of the third decade,⟨and, for, of, the, with⟩, take precedence over the letters of later decades. For example,then is written⠮⠝the-n, not *⠹⠢th-en. When standing as words adjacent to other such words, or to⠁a, no space is left between them. For example,and the, for a, with the, of a are all fused together.^[13]

When printedch, gh, sh, th are pronounced as two sounds, as inShanghai, hogshead, andouthouse, then they are written as two braille letters rather than with the ligatures⟨gh, sh, th⟩. Generally, other ligatures should not be used if they might cause problems with legibility, as with theing inlingerie, though they tend to be with familiar words, such asginger andfinger, even if their pronunciation is divided between syllables. None of the ligatures are to be used across the boundaries of compound words. For example,⠷⟨of⟩ is not used intwofold, nor⠆⟨bb⟩ indumbbell. The rules state that they should not span a prefix and stem either, so for example theed indeduce, theer ofrerun andderail, and theble ofsublet should be written out in full. In practice this is variable, as it depends upon the awareness of the writer.^[14] Theof inprofessor, for example, might not be recognized spanning prefix and stem, and oftena-cc-ept ora-dd-r-e-s-s are accepted, despite the technical violation. There is also conflict with the overriding tendency to contract sequences that fall within a single syllable. So the same writer who divides theer inderive may allow the ligature inderivation.^[15] A similar pattern emerges from suffixes:⟨ed⟩ is not used infreedom, since it spans stem and suffix, but is used infreed, because it forms a single syllable with the stem. What is considered to constitute a prefix or suffix is somewhat arbitrary:⟨st⟩ is not used inCharlestown, for example, but it is inCharleston. Ligatures may also not separatedigraphs or diphthongs in print. For example,aerial does not use⟨er⟩,Oedipus does not use⟨ed⟩, andtableau does not use⟨ble⟩.^[16] Also, it is normal to use the letter⟨ea⟩ for thebroken vowel ini-d-ea-s orc-r-ea-t-e, despite it being pronounced as two sounds rather than one as inhead orocean.

Ligatures should not be used foracronyms that are pronounced as a string of letters. That is,DEA should not use the letter⟨ea⟩, nor PST the letter⟨st⟩. Such letters are acceptable in acronyms that are pronounced as a word, however, if the result is not obscure.^{[example needed]}

The letters of the fifth decade are often used in the past tense and other grammatical forms: whenrub becomesrubbed, in braille the letter⟨b⟩ is moved down a dot to indicate thebb. However, those letters which double as punctuation marks—⟨ea, bb, cc, dd, ff, gg⟩—may only occur sandwiched in the middle of a word, not at the beginning or end, in order to avoid confusion with the punctuation. That is, *sea, ebb, add, cuff, egg must be spelled out in full, though the ligatures are used inseason, added (a-dd-ed), cuffs, andeggs. Because of legibility problems (see "lower contractions" in the next section), they may not come in contact with an apostrophe or hyphen either. That is, inegg's andegg-plant,tea's andtea-time, thegg andea must be spelled out in full. If the print letters span an obvious affix, the braille ligature is not used (preamble, reanalyze, pineapple, subbasement), but they are used in words such asaccept andaddress where the morphology has become opaque.^[17] In order to keep the spelling regular, compounds of words starting withea keep theea spelled out:uneasy, anteater, southeast do not use the ligature⟨ea⟩ becauseeasy, eater, east do not use it.^[18] These are the least-preferred ligatures: any other will be used instead. Thuswedding isw-ed-d-ing (not *we-dd-ing) andoffice isof-f-i-c-e (not *o-ff-i-c-e).

Many of the rules for when to use ligatures, contractions, and abbreviations differ when a word is divided at the end of a line of text, because some of them may not come in contact with the hyphen that divides the word. See the references for details.

Theaccent mark⟨⠈⟩ (printed hereinafter with the character @) shows that there is adiacritic on the following letter, as in⟨se@nor⟩señor,⟨fa@cade⟩façade,⟨caf@e⟩café,⟨na@ive⟩naïve, and⟨@angstr@om⟩ångström. In normal braille text, noting the precise diacritic is not important, as it can be easily understood from context, or simply ignored. Where diacritics are critical, technical braille transcription must be used.

A diacritic in a word of foreign origin prevents the accented letter from combining with another into a ligature. For example,señor is not written with the ligature⟨en⟩ as *⟨s-@-en-o-r⟩, because it would not be clear if the accent were supposed to be on thee (asé) or on then. However, English words are contracted. Thusblessèd is written⟨b-l-e-s-s-@-ed⟩, andcoëducational is⟨c-o-@-ed-u-c-ation-a-l⟩.

EBAE punctuation & symbols

(space)

,

;

:

. (period)

. (decimal)

!

|

&

*  †  ‡

(next letter accented)

#(number mode)

'

‘

’

(  )

(

)

[

]

{

}

〃(ditto)

?  “

”

/

\

...

-

–

—

Braille punctuation is somewhat variable, just as there is variation in printed English between curly and straight quotation marks. They fail to make some distinctions found in print. For example, in EBAE, both opening and closing parentheses are written⟨⠶⟩, with spacing used to distinguish; in UEB, they are⟨⠐⠣⟩ and⟨⠐⠜⟩. On the other hand, EBAE distinguishes period⟨⠲⟩ vs. decimal point⟨⠨⟩ (UEB does not). EBAE and UEB, just like (non-typewriter) print, distinguish apostrophe⟨⠄⟩,⟨’⟩ right inner quotation mark⟨⠠⠴⟩,⟨〃⟩ ditto mark⟨⠐⠂⟩, and⟨”⟩ right outer quotation mark⟨⠴⟩.

In EBAE,⟨⠤⟩ is the hyphen⟨-⟩,⟨⠤⠤⟩ thedash⟨–⟩,⟨⠤⠤⠤⠤⟩ the"double dash"⟨—⟩, and⟨⠄⠄⠄⟩ is theellipsis⟨…⟩.^[19] When words or letters are replaced by multiple dashes or dots in print, in EBAE⠤⠤⠤⠤ and⠄⠄⠄⠄ are used, with a matching number of characters. In UEB, these symbols are⟨-⟩⟨⠤⟩,⟨–⟩⟨⠠⠤⟩,⟨—⟩⟨⠐⠠⠤⟩, and⟨…⟩⟨⠲⠲⠲⟩.^[20]

In EBAE, the reference mark, or "asterisk" (⠔⠔), is used for all reference marks — *, †, ‡, etc., including numbered footnotes.^[21] Unlike the asterisk in printed English, it is spaced on both sides, apart from associated footnote letters or numbers, which follow it immediately. So,⟨word*⟩ is transcribed⟨⠘⠺⠀⠔⠔⟩, as is⟨word^‡⟩; the numbered footnote in⟨word³⟩ is written⟨⠘⠺⠀⠔⠔⠼⠉⟩. In UEB, they are distinguished, matching print:⟨*⟩⟨⠐⠔⟩,⟨†⟩⟨⠈⠠⠹⟩,⟨‡⟩⟨⠈⠠⠻⟩.^[22]

The ditto mark,⟨⠐⠂⟩, which occupies two cells, is only used once per line, in contrast to normal practice in print.

In addition to being used for apostrophe and capitalization, dot 3⟨⠄⟩ and dot 6⟨⠠⟩ are used as combining characters. In EBAE, they combine with parentheses to form brackets⟨⠠⠶ ...⠶⠄⟩; and in EBAE & UEB, dot 6 combines with quotation marks to form inner quotation marks⟨⠠⠦ ...⠴⠄⟩. Together, they form thetermination sign⟨⠠⠄⟩ (ending an all-caps passage). Also⟨⠎⠄⟩, the section mark (§) (UEB:⟨⠘⠎⟩).

The accent mark (here called theprint symbol indicator) is used with punctuation when it stands alone, rather than suffixed to a word or number. For example, if someone's response in a dialogue is transcribed⟨"?"⟩, in braille that would be written⟨⠦⠈⠦⠴⟩. It is also used to derive a few symbols in EBAE:⟨%⟩⟨⠈⠒⠏⟩,⟨$⟩⟨⠲⟩ (before a number) /⟨⠈⠲⟩ (elsewhere),⟨&⟩⟨⠈⠯⟩. In UEB,⟨%⟩ became⟨⠨⠴⟩, and⟨$⟩ became⟨⠈⠎⟩ (everywhere).

In EBAE, "in general literature, the common mathematical signs of operation for + (plus), − (minus), × (times or by), ÷ (divided by), and = (equals) should always be expressed in words. The special mathematical signs should be used only in mathematics and scientific texts.".^[23] For example,⟨2×5 ft.⟩ would be rendered⟨⠼⠃⠀⠴⠼⠑⠀⠋⠞⠲⟩ (using⟨⠴⟩ as a contraction of the word⟨by⟩) in literary contexts, because EBAE did not have a symbol for⟨×⟩ (thoughNemeth Braille did). In UEB,⟨×⟩ is⟨⠐⠦⟩, so that phrase would be rendered⟨⠼⠃⠐⠦⠼⠑⠀⠋⠞⠲⟩.

Braille has several formatting marks, sometimes called "composition signs", "register marks", or "indicators", which have no one-to-one correspondence with printed English. These are the number sign⟨⠼⟩, the letter sign⟨⠰⟩, the capital sign⟨⠠⟩, the italic sign (or more accurately the emphasis sign)⟨⠨⟩, and the termination sign⟨⠠⠄⟩ (written cap–apostrophe). These immediately precede the sequence (word or number) they modify, without an intervening space.

(number)		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0		(decimal)

All charactersaa throughjj are interpreted as the digits1 through0 when they follow anumber sign. This reading ignores intervening numerical and arithmetical symbols such as commas, decimal points, and fraction bars, until a non-number-compatible character, such as a period or a letter after J, is encountered, at which point reading reverts to the alphabetical valuesa–j. The number sign is repeated after a slash that is not used as a fraction bar (likemodel number 15/07).^[24] For example,1⁄20 (one twentieth) is⟨⠼⠁⠌⠃⠚⟩, but 20/20 [vision] is⟨⠼⠃⠚⠌⠼⠃⠚⟩. The braille number sign has no equivalent in print. It is sometimes transcribed as⟨#⟩. However, this is misleading: an actual printed # is rendered in braille as⟨No.⟩, without an intervening space before the number sign⠼.

(letter)

(emph.)

(caps)

(stop)

(termination)

(non-Latin)

Theletter sign is used to force the end of a series of numbers. For example,⠙⠁⟨da⟩ preceded by a number sign,⠼⠙⠁, is read as41. If instead4a is intended (as in a section or apartment number), then the letter sign is used to force a reading ofa rather than1 for the final character:⠼⠙⠰⠁⟨4a⟩.^[25] It is also used to mark a character as standing for a letter rather than for a word. For example,⠃⟨b⟩ on its own is normally read as the wordbut; to indicate that it is instead the letterb, the letter sign is used:⠰⠃b. Plurals of letters (mind your ps and qs) always use an apostrophe in braille, but other derivations may not, as in⠰⠝⠹nth [time]:⠠⠎⠬ isSing,⠰⠠⠎⠬ isS-ing/Essing.^[26] The letter sign is also used to mark lower-case Roman numbers, as in⠰⠊⠊⠊⟨iii⟩.

Thecapital(ization) sign marks the first letter of a word as capitalized. It may occur in the middle of a word forcamel case, as in the namedeAngelo. It is doubled to place a word in all caps; this must be repeated for each word of an all-cap text.^[27]

Theemphasis (italic) sign marks emphatic formatting, equivalent to printed italic, bold, underlined, and small-capital text.^[28] A single italic sign emphasizes the entire word (or number). For two or three emphasized words, each takes a separate marker. For longer texts, a doubled marker is placed before the first word, and the end of the emphasis is indicated by marking the final emphasized word with a single italic sign.

When the capitalization or emphasis does not span the entire word, the beginning and end is marked with a hyphen. However, if the print word already contains a hyphen, thetermination sign is used for the end. So,⟨Hooray⟩ is written⟨⠨⠠⠓⠕⠕⠤⠗⠁⠽⟩, but⟨Hoo-ray⟩ is⟨⠨⠠⠓⠕⠕⠠⠄⠤⠗⠁⠽⟩.

Thecomma⟨⠂⟩ prefixed to a letter indicates that it is to be read as non-Latin, so that for example⟨⠂⠁⟩ would be⟨α⟩ if Greek symbols were being used.^[29]

Apart from words using the various abbreviations signs, covered in the next section, English Braille utilizes a number of unmarked contractions.^[30] These are similar to the contractions found inshorthand andstenoscript. As a rule, they are not used where they would obscure the text.

a	but	can	do	every	from, -self	go	have	I	just
knowledge	like	more	not		people	quite	rather	so	that		still
us	very	it	you	as							com-†
child		shall	this	which			out		will
	be, be-	con-	dis-	enough	to+†	were	his	in	by+,† was		into+†

^†Abolished in Unified English Braille

+Joins with the following word

The single-letter contractions are:

⠃⟨b⟩but,⠉⟨c⟩can,⠙⟨d⟩do,⠑⟨e⟩every,⠋⟨f⟩from and-self,⠛⟨g⟩go,⠓⟨h⟩have,⠚⟨j⟩just,

⠅⟨k⟩knowledge,⠇⟨l⟩like,^[31]⠍⟨m⟩more,⠝⟨n⟩not,⠏⟨p⟩people,⠟⟨q⟩quite,⠗⟨r⟩rather,⠎⟨s⟩so,⠞⟨t⟩that,⠌⟨st⟩still,

⠥⟨u⟩us,⠧⟨v⟩very,⠭⟨x⟩it,⠽⟨y⟩you,⠵⟨z⟩as,

⠡⟨ch⟩child,⠩⟨sh⟩shall,⠹⟨th⟩this,⠱⟨wh⟩which,⠳⟨ou⟩out,⠺⟨w⟩will,

⠆⟨bb⟩be andbe-,⠒⟨cc⟩con-,⠲⟨dd⟩dis-,⠢⟨en⟩enough,⠖⟨ff⟩to,^[32]⠶⟨gg⟩were,⠦⟨?⟩his,^[33]⠔⟨in⟩in,⠴⟨”⟩by^[32] andwas,

⠤⟨-⟩com-^[32]

Note irregular⠭⟨x⟩ forit,⠵⟨z⟩ foras, and⠶⟨gg⟩ forwere. All 26 basic Latin letters are used apart from⠁⠊⠕⟨a i o⟩, which already form words of their own.

These contractions are either independent words or (in the cases ofcon-, com-, dis-, -self)affixes, as in⠐⠕⠋⟨one-f⟩oneself. They cannot be treated as simple letters. For example, while the letter⠭⟨x⟩ stands for the pronounit, it cannot substitute for the sequenceit in the wordbite.^[34] They cannot be pluralized: *⟨cs⟩ is no good for "(tin) cans". This is true even of⟨ch⟩child not being usable for *grandchild, nor⟨ou⟩out in *without. (These must be spelledg-r-and-ch-i-l-d andwith-ou-t.) However, a following apostrophe is acceptable:⟨p's⟩people's,⟨c't⟩can't,⟨x'll⟩it'll;^[35] as are hyphenated words likeso-and-so. This behavior is distinct from ligatures such as⠫⟨ed⟩ and⠮⟨the⟩, which are used when the equivalent sequences are found in printed English, as in⠗⠫red and⠝⠑⠫need.

There is no semantic restriction:⟨c⟩can may be either the verbcan or a tincan, and capitalized⠠⠺⟨W⟩ and⠠⠍⟨M⟩ are namesWill andMore.^[36] However, in the few cases where the basic letters would be words in their own right, they must be spelled out to avoid confusion. That is, because⠩⟨sh⟩ stands forshall, it cannot be used for the wordsh!, which must be spelled out as⠎⠓s-h. Similarly,⟨st⟩ can be used forSt. (as eitherSaint orStreet) when marked as an abbreviation by a period, but otherwise should also be spelled out.^[37]

"Lower" contractions

Because contractions that occupy only the lower half of the braille cell mostly double as basic punctuation marks, legibility requires that, with few exceptions, they may not come in contact with actual punctuation marks; if they would, they should instead be spelled out. That is, any cell which follows without an intervening space should contain a dot in its top row. Most of the difficulties of when to use contractions are due to this complication.

The whole-word contractions of the fifth decade are⟨bb⟩be,⟨en⟩enough,⟨ff⟩to,⟨gg⟩were,⟨?⟩his,⟨in⟩in,⟨”⟩by/was.^[38] If one of these words occurs at the end of a sentence, or before a comma, it must be spelled out (though "enough" would still be partially contracted toen-ou-gh.) They cannot even be used in hyphenated words such asbride-to-be. However, much like Arabic prepositions, the prepositions⟨to⟩,⟨into⟩,^[39] and⟨by⟩ join with a following word without an intervening space. This prevents⟨by⟩ from being read as 'was'. That is, inHe came by to see us, "by to see" is written as one word,⠴⠖⠎⠑⠑. Word-joining is allowed as long as the upper half of the braille cell (dot 1 or 4) is used in the final word;to, by, into do join within, enough, be, his, was, were, but the second word is spelled out.

The fifth-decade prefixes (be-, dis-, con-) may only be used if they occur at the beginning of a word (including in a compound word after a hyphen, or afterby, to, into) and form a whole syllable. That is, they cannot be used in the wordsbeen, disk, conch nor (apart from double-dutybe) as words in their own right, as incon artist.Com- is similar, but doesn’t need to constitute a syllable: it is used for example income andcomb. However, because it uses only the bottom row of the cell, like the hyphen and the apostrophe, it cannot come in contact with either.

Longer unmarked contractions are the following. Ligatures, such as⠌⟨st⟩ in⟨agst⟩against, are underlined here for clarity.^[40]

⠁⠃⟨ab⟩about,⠁⠃⠧⟨abv⟩above,⠁⠉⟨ac⟩according,⠁⠉⠗⟨acr⟩across,⠁⠋⟨af⟩after,⠁⠋⠝⟨afn⟩afternoon,⠁⠋⠺⟨afw⟩afterward,⠁⠛⟨ag⟩again,⠁⠛⠌⟨agst⟩against,⠁⠇⟨al⟩also,⠁⠇⠍⟨alm⟩almost,⠁⠇⠗⟨alr⟩already,⠁⠇⠞⟨alt⟩altogether,⠁⠇⠹⟨alth⟩although,⠁⠇⠺⟨alw⟩always

⠆⠉⟨bec⟩because,⠆⠋⟨bef⟩before,⠆⠓⟨beh⟩behind,⠆⠇⟨bel⟩below,⠆⠝⟨ben⟩beneath,⠆⠎⟨bes⟩beside,⠆⠞⟨bet⟩between,⠆⠽⟨bey⟩beyond

⠃⠇⟨bl⟩blind,⠃⠗⠇⟨brl⟩Braille

⠉⠙⟨cd⟩could,⠉⠧⟨cv⟩-ceive,⠉⠧⠛⟨cvg⟩-ceiving^[41]

⠡⠝⟨chn⟩children

⠙⠉⠇⟨dcl⟩declare,⠙⠉⠇⠛⟨dclg⟩declaring

⠑⠊⟨ei⟩either

⠋⠌⟨fst⟩first,⠋⠗⟨fr⟩friend

⠛⠙⟨gd⟩good,⠛⠗⠞⟨grt⟩great

⠓⠻⠋⟨herf⟩herself,⠓⠍⟨hm⟩him,⠓⠍⠋⟨hmf⟩himself

⠊⠍⠍⟨imm⟩immediate

⠇⠇⟨ll⟩little,⠇⠗⟨lr⟩letter

⠍⠡⟨mch⟩much,⠍⠌⟨mst⟩must,⠍⠽⠋⟨myf⟩myself

⠝⠑⠉⟨nec⟩necessary,⠝⠑⠊⟨nei⟩neither

⠕⠄⠉⟨o'c⟩o'clock^[32]

⠳⠗⠧⠎⟨ourvs⟩ourselves

⠏⠙⟨pd⟩paid,⠏⠻⠓⟨perh⟩perhaps

⠟⠅⟨qk⟩quick

⠗⠚⠉⟨rjc⟩rejoice,⠗⠚⠉⠛⟨rjcg⟩rejoicing

⠎⠡⟨sch⟩such,⠎⠙⟨sd⟩said

⠩⠙⟨shd⟩should

⠞⠙⟨td⟩today,⠞⠛⠗⟨tgr⟩together,⠞⠍⟨tm⟩tomorrow,⠞⠝⟨tn⟩tonight

⠮⠍⠧⠎⟨themvs⟩themselves

⠺⠙⟨wd⟩would

⠭⠎⟨xs⟩its,⠭⠋⟨xf⟩itself

⠽⠗⟨yr⟩your,⠽⠗⠋⟨yrf⟩yourself,⠽⠗⠧⠎⟨yrvs⟩yourselves

These can only form longer words that are derivations of them and retain their meaning. For example,above inaboveboard,necessary inunnecessary,conceive inmisconceive, andgood ingoodness are all well-formed braille, but notshould in *shoulder norsaid in *Port Said. Nor can they be used if a final-e is dropped, as indeclaration. (This is why special-ing forms are available fordeclaring, rejoicing, and-ceiving: the-ing suffix would not work.)

They may be used asproper nouns (when capitalized), but not as parts of proper nouns.^[42] For example,little is acceptable for the nameLittle, but may not be used withinDoolittle; similarly, the contraction forgood may not be used in the nameGoody. (There are too many unpredictable names for this to be workable.)

After,blind andfriend may only be used in longer words when followed by a consonant. (They are too ambiguous otherwise.)

Initial letter				–Final letter

Besides unmarked contractions, words are abbreviated with any of several abbreviation signs. All of these signs use only the right-hand side of the braille cell.⟨⠐⟩,⟨⠘⟩, and⟨⠸⟩ markinitial abbreviations, combining with the initial braille letter of a word. The italic sign⟨⠨⟩, letter sign⟨⠰⟩, and capital sign⟨⠠⟩ markfinal abbreviations, combining with the final letter of a sequence, commonly a suffix.

(The combining initial letter is written here in boldface, as it does not always correspond to the initial letter of printed orthography.)

• ⟨⠐⟩ forms the words⠐⠓here,⠐⠮there,⠐⠱where,⠐⠑ever,⠐⠳ought,⠐⠋father,⠐⠍mother,⠐⠝name,⠐⠡character,⠐⠟question,⠐⠅know,⠐⠇lord,⠐⠕one,⠐⠙day,⠐⠎some,⠐⠏part,⠐⠞time,⠐⠗right,⠐⠹through,⠐⠥under,⠐⠺work,⠐⠽young
• ⟨⠘⟩ forms the words⠘⠮these,⠘⠹those,⠘⠥upon,⠘⠱whose,⠘⠺word
• ⟨⠸⟩ forms the words⠸⠉cannot,⠸⠍many,⠸⠓had,⠸⠮their,⠸⠎spirit,⠸⠺world

In general, these are acceptable as parts of longer words as long as they retain their pronunciation. There are three main exceptions to this:

• ⟨one⟩ doesn’t need to keep its abnormal pronunciation, as long as theo andn fall in the same syllable
• ⟨some⟩ needs to form a complete syllable, as inchromosome (ch-r-o-m-o-some)
• ⟨part⟩ cannot be used inpartake or its derivatives

As can be seen fromchromosome, the pronunciation requirement is rather loose. Given the difficulty of English speakers in agreeing on where syllable breaks fall,^[43] syllable requirements are also loosely construed in braille: they do not follow the rigid application of a dictionary.^[44]

• ⟨⠨⟩ forms the sequences⠨⠙-ound,⠨⠞-ount,⠨⠑-ance,⠨⠎-less,⠨⠝-sion
• ⟨⠰⟩ forms the sequences⠰⠛-ong,⠰⠇-ful,⠰⠞-ment,⠰⠑-ence,⠰⠎-ness,⠰⠝-tion,⠰⠽-ity
• ⟨⠠⟩ Capital⟨Y⟩ stands for the suffix⠠⠽-ally,^[32] and⟨N⟩ for⠠⠝-ation.^[32]

These cannot follow an apostrophe or hyphen. They cannot form independent words like *ally or *less, nor can they occur at the beginning of a word like *ancestor or *lesson. However, then can usually occur elsewhere:c-ount, ar-ound. They may be used across syllables, as inc-ance-r.⟨ness⟩ is used for the suffix-ess aftern, though not afteren orin, as inbaroness (b-ar-o-ness) andlioness, but not inchieftainess (ch-i-e-f-t-a-in-e-s-s).^[45]

-full does not use⠰⠇⟨ful⟩ in order to preserve the parallel with the independent wordfull. However,-ful and-fully do.

When there are several ways to write a word, the shortest one is chosen, and when they are of equal length, the one without (two-cell) abbreviations is chosen. So,thence is writtenth-ence (3 cells) rather thanthe-n-c-e (4 cells). However, with the sequences-anced, -ancer, -enced, -encer, the form with-ance/-ence is used even if not shorter.

Braille also uses print abbreviations such asea., Mon., Sept., etc., in which case the period⠲ is used as in print.

A single space⟨⟩ (a blank cell, which has the same width as all other cells) is left between words and sentences. Paragraphs are indented with a double space. This is universal in braille, even when transcribing a printed text that does not indent paragraphs: Blank lines are not used for this in braille, though they may be used for changes of scene, etc. As much as possible, lines continue to the right margin, with words divided and hyphenated to fit. If this would cause an illegal sequence of ligature or contraction and hyphen, the spelling needs to be decomposed, or the word hyphenated differently.

The full cell⟨⟩ is used to over-type and strike out errors when using a braille writer. (Mistakes may also be erased by smoothing them out, but this runs the risk of making the corrected letter illegible.)

The full cell may also indicate a missing value in a table. It can also function more generally as a column marker to keep the data in a table aligned. For example, a row in a table of punctuation, where the columns contain symbols of different lengths, could be written,

,

;

:

.

!

( )

?

“ ”

*

/

(For an illustration of such use, see the alphabet chart in the box atRussian Braille, where a column marker sets off each letter of the alphabet and each mark of punctuation.)

Unified English Braille (UEB) is an attempted unified standard for English Braille, proposed in 1991 to theBraille Authority of North America (BANA).^[8] The motivation for UEB was that the proliferation of specialized braille codes—which sometimes assigned conflicting values to even basic letters and numbers—was threatening not just braille-literacy, but also the viability of English braille itself. Also, the irregularities of English Braille made automated transcription inaccurate, and therefore increased the cost and time required to print in braille. In 1993, the UEB project was adopted by theInternational Council on English Braille, and expanded to cover the various national systems of the member states: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. An additional goal became adoption of a single standard for all braille encoding, apart frommusic; with the exception of math-notation, this was largely achieved. New Zealand officially retainsMāori Braille as compatible with UEB, and BANA officially retains Nemeth Code as a math-notation option alongside UEB for the United States.^[46]

In the finalized form as of 2013, UEB upgrades English Braille Grade 2 (the literary coding used in several slightly variable forms in different countries), obsoletesComputer Braille Code by making email/website/programming syntax part of literary coding, and in some ways competes withNemeth Code by adding additional math-notation (albeitTaylor-style with the numerals overwriting letters rather than overwriting punctuation as in Nemeth) to the literary coding. Compared to the American standard described in this article, Unified English has the following differences:^[47]

1. Readings: Several have been eliminated, due to ambiguity or translation problems: the lettersdd and-ble, the contractionsby, com-, to, into, ando'clock, and the capitalized abbreviations-ally and-ation.
2. Spacing: Words such asand the are to be spaced in braille just as they are in print (formerly they were typically run together asandthe)
3. Formatting: Bold, underline, and italics now have separate formatting marks (formerly it was impossible to distinguish between underlined-braille and italicized-braille). A triple capital sign now indicates a passage in all-caps.
4. Punctuation: New opening and closing parentheses⠐⠣ and⠐⠜ (which previously were ambiguous). Various brackets, quotation marks, dashes, and other punctuation (including notably mathematical and arithmetical notations such as the equals sign) have been added, so that printed text can be reproduced less ambiguously.
5. Uniformity: UEB is likely to become the worldwide standard for English-language braille (seefull article for details)
6. Extensibility: provisions have been made for adding new symbols, without causing new conflicts
7. Miscellaneous changes: various other differences exist^[48]

The following punctuation is retained:

Traditional punctuation

,

;

:

.

!

?

The Grade 2 innter opening quotation mark is also retained, but the closing equivalent is changed.

The right-side abbreviation and formatting marks are used to derive quotation marks and mathematical symbols, by combining them with lower-half punctuation and four letters which graphically resemble ( ) / \.^[49]

New mathematical symbols and punctuation

^	~			<	>
+	=	×, *		(	)	÷		−
	"	‘	’				—
		“	”
			%	[	]		`	_
#	|			{	}	/	\

In addition, the accent mark is used to derive the following. At least the first, the ampersand, is the same as usage in American Grade-2 Braille, and at least the dollar sign is different.

Other symbols

&

@

$

¢

€

æ

œ

The following text is the same in American Grade 2 and Unified English Braille:

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights

⠠⠁⠇⠇⠀⠓⠥⠍⠁⠝⠀⠆⠬⠎⠀⠜⠑⠀⠃⠕⠗⠝⠀⠋⠗⠑⠑⠀⠯⠀⠑⠟⠥⠁⠇⠀⠔⠀⠙⠊⠛⠝⠰⠽⠀⠯⠀⠐⠗⠎⠲

⠠⠮⠽⠀⠜⠑⠀⠢⠙⠪⠫⠀⠾⠀⠗⠂⠎⠕⠝⠀⠯⠀⠒⠎⠉⠊⠰⠑⠀⠯⠀⠩⠙⠀⠁⠉⠞⠀⠞⠪⠜⠙⠎⠀⠐⠕⠀⠁⠝⠕⠤

⠮⠗⠀⠔⠀⠁⠀⠸⠎⠀⠷⠀⠃⠗⠕⠮⠗⠓⠕⠕⠙⠲

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one ano-
ther in a spirit of brotherhood.

• Braille Challenge
• Braille Institute of America
• National Braille Association
• Unified English Braille
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• Royal National Institute For The Blind
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• Assistive technology
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