Unified English Braille · Letter 9 of 26
I in braille
The letter I in braille is dots 2-4: ⠊. It has two raised dots in the six-dot cell, in the middle left (dot 2) and top right (dot 4). The dots are numbered 1, 2 and 3 down the left column and 4, 5 and 6 down the right.
The cell above is Unicode braille, so you can copy it: ⠊ (U+280A). To turn a whole word or sentence into braille, use the braille translator; to read braille cells back, the braille to English translator.
Where I fits in the alphabet
I is in the first row of the alphabet, the ten letters from a to j. They use only the top four dots of the cell (1, 2, 4 and 5), and every other letter is built from them.
See every letter at once in the braille alphabet chart.
Capital I
Braille has no separate capital letters. A capital I is the same cell with the capital indicator in front of it, dot 6 (⠠): ⠠⠊. Two capital indicators (⠠⠠) put the whole word in capitals.
I as the number 9
Braille has no separate digits. The letters a to j, written after the numeric indicator (⠼, dots 3-4-5-6), stand for 1 to 0, so i after it is 9: ⠼⠊. One indicator covers all the digits that follow it, so the same cell can be the letter i in a word and the number 9 in a figure. More in braille numbers.
I as a whole word
In contracted braille (Grade 2) the letter i does not stand for another word. The word “I” is just the capital letter: ⠠⠊.
Letters I is mixed up with
Flip i left to right and you get e (⠑, dots 1-5). The two are easy to mix up at first, especially by touch: check which column the dots are in.
How I feels under the finger
By touch, i is one dot in the left column (middle) and one dot in the right column (top). It stays in the top two rows of the cell, like all the letters from a to j, so it feels shorter than the letters that use dot 3 or 6. Beginners read it with the pad of the index finger, moving lightly across the cell instead of pressing on each dot.
Writing I with a slate and stylus
With a slate and stylus you punch the dots from the back of the paper and write from right to left, so every cell is the mirror image of how it is read. To write i, press the stylus in the top left and middle right of the cell, the same places you would use to read e. When you turn the paper over, the raised dots are in the middle left and top right: i, ready to read. A braillewriter such as the Perkins does the mirroring for you: you press the keys for dots 2-4 and read the result straight away.
Words that start with I
Three words in uncontracted braille (Grade 1), letter by letter, so you can find the i at the start of each one.
| Word | Braille | Dots |
|---|---|---|
| ink | ⠊⠝⠅ | 2-4 1-3-4-5 1-3 |
| iron | ⠊⠗⠕⠝ | 2-4 1-2-3-5 1-3-5 1-3-4-5 |
| idea | ⠊⠙⠑⠁ | 2-4 1-4-5 1-5 1 |
Frequently asked questions
What is I in braille?
I is dots 2-4 of the six-dot braille cell: ⠊. It has two raised dots, in the middle left (dot 2) and top right (dot 4).
How do you write a capital I in braille?
With the capital indicator, dot 6 (⠠), in front of the letter: ⠠⠊. Braille has no separate capital letters.
Is I in braille the same as the number 9?
The cell is the same. After the numeric indicator (⠼, dots 3-4-5-6) it reads as 9: ⠼⠊. Without the indicator it is the letter i.
From I to reading
Knowing a letter is the start. Reading braille by touch takes practice
Braillito teaches braille from scratch, with 59 lessons in 8 worlds, in 38 languages, English included.
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