Braille and Morse Code: Differences and A-Z Chart
No: braille is not Morse code. Braille is "a system of touch reading and writing" in which each letter is a pattern of raised dots in a cell of six (NLS, Library of Congress). Morse code is a code of short and long signals sent one after another: a click, a beep, a tap on the wrist. Both use the word dot, which is why people mix them up. A braille dot is a bump you feel. A Morse dot is a short signal in time.
Below: how the two differ, which came first, both alphabets side by side from A to Z and 0 to 9, and where Morse code shows up as an accessibility tool today. Sources were read on October 30, 2026.
Key points
- Braille is read by touch, one whole cell at a time. Louis Braille's six-dot cell was the fix for an older military code: with six dots, "a fingertip could encompass the entire cell unit with one impression" (NLS).
- Morse code is read one signal at a time. In the international standard, "A dash is equal to three dots" and the gaps between signals mark where a letter or a word ends (ITU-R M.1677-1).
- Braille is older. Louis Braille published his code in 1829 (AFB). Morse code took shape around 1837, and the first official telegraph message went over a line on May 24, 1844 (Library of Congress).
- You convert them one letter at a time. No rule turns a Morse sequence into a braille cell. The table below pairs them letter by letter.
Braille and Morse code at a glance
| Question | Braille | Morse code |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | A writing system of raised dots, read by touch | A code of short and long signals sent one after another |
| How do you read it? | With the fingertips, one cell at a time | By ear or by feel, one signal at a time |
| Building block | A cell of six dots; 63 possible patterns | Dots and dashes; a dash lasts as long as three dots |
| How long is a letter? | Always one cell | One to four signals |
| Digits | The number sign plus the cells for a to j | Five signals each |
| When did it start? | Published by Louis Braille in 1829 | Around 1837; first official line message on May 24, 1844 |
| Standard used in this guide | The letters as charted by NLS | ITU-R M.1677-1 (2009) |
Sources: NLS About Braille, ITU-R M.1677-1, Library of Congress, AFB.
What braille is
Braille is a way to read and write with your fingers. Every character sits in a cell of six dot positions, two columns of three. The dots are "numbered downward 1-2-3 on the left and 4-5-6 on the right." NLS, the Library of Congress service for blind readers, adds: "Sixty-three different patterns are possible from these six dots" (NLS).
Each dot is either raised or flat. The letter a is dot 1 alone, ⠁; the letter b is dots 1 and 2, ⠃. A reader feels the whole cell under one fingertip and moves on to the next. NLS describes the motion simply: "Braille is read by moving one or more fingers along each line."
Braille is a full writing system, with punctuation, numbers and, in most English books, contractions for common words. The basics are in what is braille, and the whole letter set is on our braille alphabet page.
What Morse code is
Morse code sends letters as signals in a series of dots and dashes, "each combination representing one letter of the alphabet" (House History). A dot is a short signal and a dash is a long one. It was built for the electric telegraph, which sent messages as electric current over a wire (U.S. Senate).
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) keeps the standard version, International Morse code, in Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1. Timing is part of the code. A dash is three dots long. Inside a letter, the gap between signals is one dot; between letters it is three dots; between words it is seven (ITU-R M.1677-1). The same document notes that Morse is still used in some radio services, including amateur radio.
Because Morse is only short and long, almost anything can carry it:
- Sound. Telegraph operators first read a paper tape, but "Clerks eventually learned to read the messages by the sound of the marking lever," and a sounder made that the normal way to receive (Library of Congress).
- Taps you feel. An Apple Watch can tell the time as taps on your wrist; one of its patterns "Taps out each digit of the current time in Morse Code" (Apple Watch User Guide).
- Switches and buttons. A keyboard with one key for dot and one for dash can type text, as the accessibility section below shows.
Which came first, braille or Morse code?
Braille came first: by about eight years for the code, and by 15 years for the first official telegraph message.
Braille. The idea of reading raised dots came from the army. Charles Barbier, a French artillery captain, had devised "a system for soldiers to communicate at night without a sound" and in 1821 he presented it at the school for the blind in Paris where Louis Braille was a pupil (AFB, Braille invents his code; NLS). Barbier's night writing used a cell of twelve dots, two wide and six high, and "a single fingertip could not feel all the dots with one touch" (NLS). Louis Braille cut the cell to six dots. In 1829, AFB's chronology records, "Louis Braille publishes an explanation of his embossed dot code" (AFB). NLS gives the same year, and the Musée Louis Braille notes two editions of his book, 1829 and 1837 (Musée Louis Braille, in French). The full story is in our history of braille.
Morse code. Samuel Morse and Leonard Gale gave their first telegraph demonstration in September 1837, and in demonstrations in New York and Philadelphia Morse introduced the code of dots and dashes; in February 1838 he showed the telegraph to members of Congress in the Capitol (U.S. Senate; House History). The Library of Congress holds one of the earliest versions of the code, dated about 1837. On May 24, 1844, Morse sent "What hath God wrought?" from the Capitol in Washington to his partner Alfred Vail in Baltimore (Library of Congress, Senate and House agree on the date).
Two details link the stories. Morse's early system was read from paper, not by ear: it produced a paper copy with "raised dots and dashes, which were translated later by an operator" (Library of Congress). And the code changed. By 1844 the version in use was American Morse, which was later altered into International Morse, the one in the table below. The ITU itself notes "that versions of the Morse code have been in use since 1844".
Braille and Morse code alphabet, A to Z and 0 to 9
The braille column shows each letter's Unicode braille character and its dot numbers, from the letter charts of NLS. The Morse column is International Morse code from ITU-R M.1677-1, with · for a dot and − for a dash. We generated the table with a script from those two documents and checked every row against the Unicode name of the braille character and a second reading of the ITU text.
Braille digits take two cells: the number sign, dots 3, 4, 5 and 6 (⠼), and then the cells for a to j, so 1 is ⠼⠁ (braille numbers; BANA).
| Character | Braille (dots) | International Morse code |
|---|---|---|
| A | ⠁ | dot dash |
| B | ⠃ | dash dot dot dot |
| C | ⠉ | dash dot dash dot |
| D | ⠙ | dash dot dot |
| E | ⠑ | dot |
| F | ⠋ | dot dot dash dot |
| G | ⠛ | dash dash dot |
| H | ⠓ | dot dot dot dot |
| I | ⠊ | dot dot |
| J | ⠚ | dot dash dash dash |
| K | ⠅ | dash dot dash |
| L | ⠇ | dot dash dot dot |
| M | ⠍ | dash dash |
| N | ⠝ | dash dot |
| O | ⠕ | dash dash dash |
| P | ⠏ | dot dash dash dot |
| Q | ⠟ | dash dash dot dash |
| R | ⠗ | dot dash dot |
| S | ⠎ | dot dot dot |
| T | ⠞ | dash |
| U | ⠥ | dot dot dash |
| V | ⠧ | dot dot dot dash |
| W | ⠺ | dot dash dash |
| X | ⠭ | dash dot dot dash |
| Y | ⠽ | dash dot dash dash |
| Z | ⠵ | dash dash dot dot |
| 1 | ⠼⠁ | dot dash dash dash dash |
| 2 | ⠼⠃ | dot dot dash dash dash |
| 3 | ⠼⠉ | dot dot dot dash dash |
| 4 | ⠼⠙ | dot dot dot dot dash |
| 5 | ⠼⠑ | dot dot dot dot dot |
| 6 | ⠼⠋ | dash dot dot dot dot |
| 7 | ⠼⠛ | dash dash dot dot dot |
| 8 | ⠼⠓ | dash dash dash dot dot |
| 9 | ⠼⠊ | dash dash dash dash dot |
| 0 | ⠼⠚ | dash dash dash dash dash |
Sources: NLS About Braille for the braille letters, ITU-R M.1677-1 for Morse.
One word in both codes
Take the word CAT. In Morse it is −·−· ·− −: four signals for C, two for A, one for T, with a letter gap after C and after A. In braille it is three cells, ⠉⠁⠞: c is dots 1 and 4, a is dot 1, t is dots 2, 3, 4 and 5.
A few things to watch when you use the table:
- Morse has no capitals. ITU lists one code for each letter, a to z. The braille cells here are lowercase letters; in braille a capital takes a capital indicator before the letter (BANA).
- E and T are the shortest in Morse: one dot and one dash. In braille, a is the cell with the fewest dots, just dot 1.
- The digits follow a pattern in both codes. In Morse, 1 to 5 start with dots and 6 to 0 start with dashes. In braille, 1 to 9 and 0 reuse the cells for a to j.
- To read braille cells back into letters, the braille decoder reads uncontracted braille as you tap the dots or paste the cells.
Both are built from two-way choices
Both codes come down to yes-or-no choices. A braille dot is raised or flat; a Morse signal is short or long. The difference is time. A braille letter is a pattern of up to six dots that your fingertip takes in at once. A Morse letter is a sequence of up to four signals that you take in one after another, and only the gap after the last one tells you the letter is over.
Morse code as an accessibility tool
Morse code is not a system for reading books by touch the way braille is. But it has a real place in assistive technology, as a way to type with very few keys.
Google's Gboard keyboard has a Morse code layout. Google's help page says it "is available for English (United States) on devices running Android 5.0 and higher," that it "works with accessibility services, like TalkBack, Switch Access, or Select to Speak," and that it can be used with an external switch (Android Accessibility Help).
Google built it with developer Tania Finlayson, who has used Morse code to communicate since she was a child. On July 11, 2018, Google brought the layout to Gboard for iOS and improved it on Android; on Android, switches can be connected "so a person with limited mobility could operate the device" (Google blog). A second Google post, from December 3, 2018, puts it plainly: "Morse is a good fit for assistive tech like switch access and sip-and-puff devices" (Google blog).
So in these sources, Morse code helps people who type with one or two switches, and it can be felt as taps on a watch. Braille is what a blind reader feels on the page.
Where Braillito fits
Braillito, our app, teaches braille. It teaches the braille cells in lessons with exercises you play, with lives, levels and a daily streak: 59 lessons in 8 worlds in English. It also has a translator, a dictionary and a cell builder. The English lessons are uncontracted braille (grade 1); they don't teach contracted braille or transcription, and Braillito isn't a braille transcriber.
Braillito teaches braille letter by letter, the same cells you see in the table above. It doesn't teach Morse code. Without paying, the braille translator works in any browser.
Braillito is a subscription with no free version; depending on the plan, it starts with a free trial or a discounted first period, if it's your first subscription (is Braillito free?). Get Braillito.
Frequently asked questions
Is braille the same as Morse code?
No. Braille is a writing system of raised dots that you read by touch, one six-dot cell per letter. Morse code is a code of short and long signals sent one after another, by sound, by taps or by switches. Nothing in a braille cell matches a Morse sequence; the two only meet at the letter they stand for. They were also made for different jobs: braille for reading and writing, Morse for the telegraph.
Which came first, braille or Morse code?
Braille. Louis Braille published his code in 1829. Morse code took shape around 1837, and the first official telegraph message, "What hath God wrought?", went from Washington to Baltimore on May 24, 1844 (Library of Congress).
Can you translate Morse code to braille?
Yes, by hand, one letter at a time. Split the Morse at the letter gaps, look up each sequence in the table above, and write the braille cell next to it: −·−· ·− − is C, A, T, which is ⠉⠁⠞ in braille. For digits, put the number sign before the first one. Nothing on this site converts Morse code; the table is the tool.