Get the app

Reference · Unified English Braille

Braille glossary: key terms explained

Plain-English definitions of 45 braille terms, from the cell and its six dots to Unified English Braille (UEB), contractions and indicators, the tools for reading and writing braille, and the people and organizations behind it. Every braille example follows UEB.

All 45 terms, A to Z

The cell and its dots

In the examples, filled dots are the raised ones and faint rings mark the empty positions. Screen readers read each example as its dot numbers.

Braille

Braille is a writing system of raised dots that blind and low-vision people read by touch, in which every letter, digit and sign is a pattern of dots in a small grid called a cell. Louis Braille published the system in 1829.

More:What is braille?

Braille cell

A braille cell is the space one braille character takes up: two columns of three dot positions, six in all. Raising any combination of them gives 63 patterns, and the empty cell is the space.

The six dot positions of a cell: 1, 2 and 3 down the left, 4, 5 and 6 down the right.

Dot numbers

Dot numbers name the six positions of a cell: dots 1, 2 and 3 run down the left column and dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right. A character is named by its raised dots, so the letter h is dots 1, 2 and 5.

The letter h: dots 1, 2 and 5.

Braille character

A braille character is any one of the 64 patterns a six-dot cell can hold, the blank cell included. One character can mean several things: dots 1 and 2 is the letter b, the digit 2 after the numeric indicator, and the word but when it stands alone.

See also:Braille symbol

Braille symbol

A braille symbol, also called a braille sign, is one or more cells read together as one unit, such as a letter, a punctuation mark, a contraction or an indicator. A capital B, for example, is a two-cell symbol: the capital indicator followed by b.

More:Braille symbols

Braille alphabet

The braille alphabet is the 26 cells for the letters a to z. The letters a to j use only dots 1, 2, 4 and 5, k to t are a to j plus dot 3, and u, v, x, y and z are a to e plus dots 3 and 6, with w the one exception.

More:Braille alphabet chart

Braille punctuation

Braille punctuation gives each mark its own symbol: in Unified English Braille the period is dots 2, 5 and 6 and the comma is dot 2. Some marks take two cells, such as parentheses.

More:Braille punctuation

Braille codes and grades

Unified English Braille (UEB)

Unified English Braille (UEB) is the braille code for English adopted by the eight member countries of the International Council on English Braille, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The council recognized it as an international standard in 2004, and the United States set January 4, 2016 as its date to implement it.

More:Unified English Braille

English Braille American Edition (EBAE)

English Braille American Edition (EBAE) is the literary braille code the United States used before Unified English Braille. The Braille Authority of North America voted on November 2, 2012 to adopt UEB in its place.

See also:Unified English Braille (UEB)Letter sign

Uncontracted braille (grade 1)

Uncontracted braille, also called grade 1, writes every word letter by letter, one cell per letter, plus the symbols for capitals, numbers and punctuation. It is used, for example, in texts for readers who have not learned contracted braille.

The word hand, uncontracted: four cells, h, a, n and d.

Contracted braille (grade 2)

Contracted braille, also called grade 2, uses contractions for common words and groups of letters, so the same text takes fewer cells. In UEB the word hand takes two cells instead of four.

More:Braille contractions

See also:Groupsign

Contraction

A contraction is a braille symbol that stands for a whole word or a group of letters in fewer cells than spelling it out. Wordsigns, groupsigns and shortforms are all contractions.

See also:WordsignGroupsignShortform

Wordsign

A wordsign is a contraction that stands for a complete word. In UEB the letter c standing alone means can, so the word takes one cell instead of three.

The word can, contracted: one cell, dots 1 and 4, the same as the letter c.

Groupsign

A groupsign is a contraction that stands for a group of letters inside a word. For example, the letters a, n and d together have one cell, dots 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, so hand is written as h followed by that cell.

The word hand, contracted: h, then the cell for and.

Shortform

A shortform is a contraction that writes a longer word as a few of its letters. In UEB, about is written ab and braille is written brl.

Indicators

Indicator

An indicator is a braille symbol that stands for no print character of its own but tells the reader how to read the symbols after it. Braille has no separate capital letters or digits, so indicators mark them.

Capital indicator

The capital indicator, dot 6, makes the letter after it a capital. A capital A is two cells: the capital indicator, then a.

The capital indicator: dot 6.

Capitalized word indicator

The capitalized word indicator is two capital indicators in a row, and it puts the whole word after it in capitals. Three in a row start a capitalized passage of three or more words, which ends with the capitals terminator, dot 6 followed by dot 3.

See also:Capital indicator

Numeric indicator

The numeric indicator, dots 3, 4, 5 and 6, shows that the cells after it are digits: the letters a to j stand for 1 to 0. So 12 is the numeric indicator, then a, then b.

The numeric indicator: dots 3, 4, 5 and 6.

More:Braille numbers

Grade 1 indicator

The grade 1 indicator, dots 5 and 6, tells the reader that the next symbol is not a contraction. The letter b standing alone would be read as the word but, so in contracted braille it is written with the grade 1 indicator in front.

The grade 1 indicator: dots 5 and 6.

Letter sign

Letter sign is the older name, from English Braille American Edition, for dots 5 and 6 placed before a letter so it is read as a letter and not as a word. UEB calls it the grade 1 symbol indicator.

See also:Grade 1 indicatorEnglish Braille American Edition (EBAE)

Typeform indicators

Typeform indicators show print emphasis such as italics, bold and underlining. UEB uses them only when the change of typeface matters, for emphasis or to show a distinction, not when it is only decoration.

Codes for math, music and computers

Nemeth Code

The Nemeth Code is a braille code for mathematics and science, created by Abraham Nemeth and published by the American Printing House for the Blind in 1952. In the United States it remains an official code alongside UEB, and the Braille Authority of North America has guidance for using it within UEB text.

More:Nemeth Code

Music braille

Music braille is the braille code for writing music: notes, rhythm, octaves and the other signs of a score. It is one of the official braille codes in the United States, and Louis Braille’s own 1829 method already included music.

More:Braille music

Eight-dot braille

Eight-dot braille adds dots 7 and 8 at the bottom of the cell, making it four dots high, for 255 possible patterns instead of 63. It is used to show computer text, where every character on the screen can have a cell of its own, and the Braille Authority of North America has no official eight-dot code.

Computer Braille Code

Computer Braille Code was a separate braille code used in the United States for computer notation such as web and email addresses. Under UEB it is no longer needed, because the same UEB symbols and rules cover those addresses.

See also:Unified English Braille (UEB)Eight-dot braille

Tools for reading and writing braille

Perkins Brailler

The Perkins Brailler is a mechanical braillewriter with six keys, one for each dot, and a space bar; pressing the keys of a cell together embosses the whole cell at once. Designed by David Abraham, it was first offered for sale in 1951.

More:Perkins Brailler

Slate and stylus

A slate and stylus are hand tools for writing braille: the slate is a hinged frame that holds the paper and guides each cell, and the stylus is a pointed tool that presses the dots in one at a time. The dots are pressed from the back of the sheet, so the writer works backwards with every cell mirrored.

More:Braille slate and stylus

Braille embosser

A braille embosser is a printer for braille: it presses raised dots into paper from a computer file, usually after braille translation software has turned the text into braille.

More:Braille printers

Interpoint

Interpoint is braille embossed on both sides of the sheet, so a document takes fewer sheets of paper.

See also:Braille embosser

Refreshable braille display

A refreshable braille display is a device that shows the text of a computer, phone or tablet in braille, raising and lowering small pins electronically to form the cells. As the text changes, the pins change with it.

More:Refreshable braille displays

Braille note-taker

A braille note-taker is a portable device that combines a refreshable braille display with its own tools, such as a word processor, calendar, email and calculator.

See also:Refreshable braille display

Six-key entry

Six-key entry is typing braille with one key or finger for each dot, pressing the dots of a cell together, as on a braillewriter. VoiceOver on iPhone and TalkBack on Android include braille keyboards that work this way on the touch screen.

More:Braille keyboards

Screen reader

A screen reader is software that reads aloud what is on a screen, or sends it to a braille display, so blind people can use a computer or phone. VoiceOver, TalkBack, JAWS and NVDA are screen readers.

Braille translation software

Braille translation software converts print into braille, contracted or uncontracted, for embossing or for reading on a braille display, and can also turn braille back into print.

More:Braille translator

Tactile graphics

Tactile graphics are pictures such as maps, diagrams and charts redesigned to be read by touch, with raised lines, textures and braille labels. They are adapted for touch rather than raised copies of the print image.

Organizations and people

Braille Authority of North America (BANA)

The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) is the body, made up of member organizations, that sets the official braille codes and rules used in the United States. It took its current form in 1976.

International Council on English Braille (ICEB)

The International Council on English Braille (ICEB) coordinates braille standards for English-speaking countries and publishes the rules of Unified English Braille. Its members are Australia, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS)

The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) is the free braille and audiobook library of the Library of Congress, for people with low vision, blindness or a physical, perceptual or reading disability that keeps them from reading or holding the printed page. It began with the Pratt-Smoot Act of March 3, 1931.

Braille transcriber

A braille transcriber turns print material into braille, following the rules of the braille code and its formatting guidelines. In the United States, transcribers can earn Library of Congress certification in literary, mathematics or music braille, and in proofreading.

More:Braille transcribers

Teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI)

A teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI or TSVI) is a certified special education teacher who works with blind and low-vision students, teaching skills such as braille and adapting class materials.

History

Louis Braille

Louis Braille (1809–1852) was the Frenchman who created braille. Blind from the age of three, he entered the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at ten, reworked Charles Barbier’s night writing into a six-dot cell and published his system in 1829.

More:Louis Braille

Night writing

Night writing was a code of raised dots devised by Charles Barbier, a French army captain, for soldiers to read by touch. It used cells of up to 12 dots and spelled words by sound; Louis Braille cut the cell to six dots and spelled words letter by letter.

See also:Louis Braille

Moon type

Moon type is a tactile reading system of raised shapes based on simplified Roman letters, published by William Moon of Brighton, England, in 1845.

World Braille Day

World Braille Day is January 4, Louis Braille’s birthday, observed by the United Nations since 2019.

More:World Braille Day

From the sheet to the screen

Practice the braille cells every day with Braillito

Braillito teaches braille from scratch, with 59 lessons in 8 worlds, in 38 languages, English included: exercises you play, with lives, levels and a daily streak. It does not teach the grade 2 contractions.

It is a subscription with no free version: depending on the plan, it starts with a free trial or a discounted first period, only if it is your first subscription.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Works with VoiceOver and TalkBack