UEB Translator

Braille Alphabet

The 26 letters, their dot numbers, and the pattern that lets you learn them ten at a time.

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Every braille letter is one cell of six dot positions, and the 26 letters follow a pattern. The letters a to j use only the top four dots: 1, 2, 4 and 5. Letters k to t are a to j with dot 3 added, and u, v, x, y and z are a to e with dots 3 and 6 added (ICEB 1.1.2). The letter w is j with dot 6 added, outside that pattern. Louis Braille made his 1829 code for French, with w added for English. (NFB)

Braille alphabet chart: the letters a to z in Unified English Braille, each braille cell with its dot numbers, and a key to the six dot positions.

Printable A–Z chart

All 26 letters on one page with their dot numbers, for a wall, a desk or a worksheet. Printed in ink the dots are flat, so it is for sighted learners, not for reading by touch.

The 26 letters in braille order

a to j

Line 1: dots 1, 2, 4 and 5 only, the top two rows of the cell.

a dot 1b dots 1-2c dots 1-4d dots 1-4-5e dots 1-5f dots 1-2-4g dots 1-2-4-5h dots 1-2-5i dots 2-4j dots 2-4-5

k to t

Line 2: a to j with dot 3 added.

k dots 1-3l dots 1-2-3m dots 1-3-4n dots 1-3-4-5o dots 1-3-5p dots 1-2-3-4q dots 1-2-3-4-5r dots 1-2-3-5s dots 2-3-4t dots 2-3-4-5

u, v, x, y and z

Line 3: a to e with dots 3 and 6 added.

u dots 1-3-6v dots 1-2-3-6x dots 1-3-4-6y dots 1-3-4-5-6z dots 1-3-5-6

w

w dots 2-4-5-6

Line 4: j with dot 6 added. Braille began as a French code, so w sits outside the u to z pattern.

How the pattern works

Braille order sets the 63 cells out in seven lines. Line 1 (a to j) uses only dots 1, 2, 4 and 5. Line 2 (k to t) adds dot 3 to each of them. Line 3 adds dots 3 and 6, and its first five cells are u, v, x, y and z. Line 4 adds dot 6, and its last cell is w. (ICEB 1.1.2)

Learn a to j and you have the rest: add dot 3 for the next ten letters, and dots 3 and 6 for the five after that.

Why w stands apart

Braille was first made for French and later adapted for English and many other languages. (ICEB 1.1.5) Louis Braille’s first published code, in 1829, used its first four lines for 39 letters of French plus the English w. (NFB) In UEB, w is still the last cell of line 4: j with dot 6 added.

123456
Dots 1, 2 and 3 run down the left of the cell and dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right. (ICEB 1.1.1)

The rest of lines 3 and 4

In UEB these cells are contractions, not letters. The braille contractions page lists every one.

Line 3, after z: f to j with dots 3 and 6 added

  • anddots 1-2-3-4-6
  • fordots 1-2-3-4-5-6
  • ofdots 1-2-3-5-6
  • thedots 2-3-4-6
  • withdots 2-3-4-5-6

Line 4, before w: a to i with dot 6 added

  • chdots 1-6
  • ghdots 1-2-6
  • shdots 1-4-6
  • thdots 1-4-5-6
  • whdots 1-5-6
  • eddots 1-2-4-6
  • erdots 1-2-4-5-6
  • oudots 1-2-5-6
  • owdots 2-4-6

What else a letter’s cell can mean

Capitals

A capital letter is two cells: dot 6 (⠠) followed by the lowercase letter. (ICEB 8.3.1) Two capital signs ⠠⠠ put the rest of a word in capitals, three ⠠⠠⠠ start a passage of three or more capitalised words, and ⠠⠄ ends capitals. (ICEB 8.4–8.6)

  • Kimdots 6 1-3 2-4 1-3-4
  • the UNdots 2-3-4-6 / 6 6 1-3-6 1-3-4-5

Digits

After the numeric indicator ⠼, the letters a to j are the digits 1 to 9 and 0. (ICEB 6.1) One indicator covers the whole number, so 15 is the indicator, then a, then e. Braille numbers covers dates, times and decimals.

  • 15dots 3-4-5-6 1 1-5

Whole words

In Grade 2, 23 letters standing alone are whole words (ICEB 2.6, 10.1.1–10.1.2, 10.2.1–10.2.2): the word “but” is the letter b.

  • butdots 1-2
  • b but
  • c can
  • d do
  • e every
  • f from
  • g go
  • h have
  • j just
  • k knowledge
  • l like
  • m more
  • n not
  • p people
  • q quite
  • r rather
  • s so
  • t that
  • u us
  • v very
  • w will
  • x it
  • y you
  • z as

A letter on its own

In Grade 2, a letter standing alone, with a space, hyphen or dash on each side, would be read as a whole word, so it takes the grade 1 indicator ⠰ in front. The letters a, i and o need no indicator, because on their own they are not contractions. (ICEB 2.6.1, 5.2.1, 5.7.1)

  • bdots 5-6 1-2
  • adots 1

Letters with accents, such as é, take a modifier sign before the letter. (ICEB 4.2.1) The grid shows the 26 plain letters; the braille translator writes accented ones.

All 26 letters at a glance

One row per letter, for printing or for moving through with a screen reader’s table commands: its dots, its line, what the cell means standing alone in Grade 2, and how to write just the letter.

The 26 letters of the braille alphabet with dot numbers and their meaning standing alone in Grade 2
LetterCellDotsLineStanding alone in Grade 2Just the letter
a11the letter itself
dots 1
b1-21the word “but”
dots 5-6 1-2
c1-41the word “can”
dots 5-6 1-4
d1-4-51the word “do”
dots 5-6 1-4-5
e1-51the word “every”
dots 5-6 1-5
f1-2-41the word “from”
dots 5-6 1-2-4
g1-2-4-51the word “go”
dots 5-6 1-2-4-5
h1-2-51the word “have”
dots 5-6 1-2-5
i2-41the letter itself
dots 2-4
j2-4-51the word “just”
dots 5-6 2-4-5
k1-32the word “knowledge”
dots 5-6 1-3
l1-2-32the word “like”
dots 5-6 1-2-3
m1-3-42the word “more”
dots 5-6 1-3-4
n1-3-4-52the word “not”
dots 5-6 1-3-4-5
o1-3-52the letter itself
dots 1-3-5
p1-2-3-42the word “people”
dots 5-6 1-2-3-4
q1-2-3-4-52the word “quite”
dots 5-6 1-2-3-4-5
r1-2-3-52the word “rather”
dots 5-6 1-2-3-5
s2-3-42the word “so”
dots 5-6 2-3-4
t2-3-4-52the word “that”
dots 5-6 2-3-4-5
u1-3-63the word “us”
dots 5-6 1-3-6
v1-2-3-63the word “very”
dots 5-6 1-2-3-6
w2-4-5-64the word “will”
dots 5-6 2-4-5-6
x1-3-4-63the word “it”
dots 5-6 1-3-4-6
y1-3-4-5-63the word “you”
dots 5-6 1-3-4-5-6
z1-3-5-63the word “as”
dots 5-6 1-3-5-6

Free for worksheets, labels and teaching materials if you credit “UEB Translator (uebtranslator.com)”, under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Printed in ink, they are for sighted readers and cannot be read by touch.

Show all 26 images, as SVG or PNG

Questions

How many letters does the braille alphabet have?

Twenty-six, the same as print. Capitals use the same cells with a sign in front; see capitals.

Why is w not in the same pattern as u, v, x, y and z?

Braille began as a French code, and w was added for English at the end of the fourth line. The history is under why w stands apart.

Can I use the braille alphabet as a cipher?

Puzzles sometimes swap each print letter for its braille cell, and a “braille cipher” like that uses only the 26 letters on this page. Real braille is not a letter-for-letter code: in Grade 2 one cell can stand for a whole word or a group of letters, and a cell’s meaning depends on the cells around it.

How are numbers written in braille?

With the letters a to j after the numeric indicator ⠼ (dots 3-4-5-6): a is 1, b is 2, and so on to j, which is 0. The braille numbers page covers dates, times and decimals.

  • How to Read Braille

    How the six-dot cell works, how the alphabet is built, and a short self-test. A starting point, not a course.

  • UEB Braille Chart

    One printable page: letters, digits, punctuation, indicators and the contractions you meet most.

  • Braille Dot Finder

    Choose dots to see every meaning that cell can have in UEB. Most cells mean different things in different places.

Rules: Rules of Unified English Braille, Third Edition 2024, cited by section number. Braille examples come from liblouis 3.39.0. All sources and when they were checked