UEB Translator

Braille Dot Finder

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

Choose the dots

Keys 1 to 6 also raise and lower dots while the cell has focus.

Dots 1, 2, 3 run down the left column and 4, 5, 6 down the right.

This cell

No dots chosen. The blank cell is the space between words.
Dots
none
Unicode
U+2800
Braille ASCII
space

With no dots raised, the cell is blank: the space between words. Choose a dot to see what a cell means.

123456

How the dots are numbered

A braille cell has two columns of three dots. Dots 1, 2 and 3 run down the left column and dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right, as you read the cell (ICEB 1.1.1). The numbers describe the reading side, and we draw every cell that way. Six dots make 64 patterns; the one with no dots raised is the blank cell between words (ICEB 1.1.2).

All 63 cells

In standard braille order: the first ten cells use only the top four dots; each following line adds dot 3, then dots 3 and 6, then dot 6.

CellDotsASCIIMeanings (context, ICEB section)
1A
  • Letter a: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 1: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Letter a (the word): standing alone, with no grade 1 indicator (5.2.1)
1-2B
  • Letter b: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 2: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign but: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-4C
  • Letter c: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 3: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign can: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-4-5D
  • Letter d: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 4: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign do: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-5E
  • Letter e: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 5: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign every: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-4F
  • Letter f: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 6: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign from: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-4-5G
  • Letter g: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 7: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign go: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-5H
  • Letter h: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 8: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign have: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
2-4I
  • Letter i: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 9: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Letter I (the word, with ⠠): standing alone, with no grade 1 indicator (5.2.1)
2-4-5J
  • Letter j: a letter (4.1)
  • Digit 0: a digit, after the numeric indicator ⠼ (6.1)
  • Wordsign just: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3K
  • Letter k: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign knowledge: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-3L
  • Letter l: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign like: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-4M
  • Letter m: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign more: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-4-5N
  • Letter n: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign not: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-5O
  • Letter o: a letter (4.1)
  • Letter o (the word): standing alone, with no grade 1 indicator (5.2.1)
1-2-3-4P
  • Letter p: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign people: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-3-4-5Q
  • Letter q: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign quite: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-3-5R
  • Letter r: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign rather: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
2-3-4S
  • Letter s: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign so: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
2-3-4-5T
  • Letter t: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign that: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-6U
  • Letter u: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign us: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-3-6V
  • Letter v: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign very: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-4-6X
  • Letter x: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign it: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-4-5-6Y
  • Letter y: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign you: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-3-5-6Z
  • Letter z: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign as: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
1-2-3-4-6&
  • Wordsign and: the whole word, standing alone (10.3)
  • Groupsign and: a group of letters inside a word (10.3)
1-2-3-4-5-6=
  • Wordsign for: the whole word, standing alone (10.3)
  • Groupsign for: a group of letters inside a word (10.3)
1-2-3-5-6(
  • Wordsign of: the whole word, standing alone (10.3)
  • Groupsign of: a group of letters inside a word (10.3)
2-3-4-6!
  • Wordsign the: the whole word, standing alone (10.3)
  • Groupsign the: a group of letters inside a word (10.3)
2-3-4-5-6)
  • Wordsign with: the whole word, standing alone (10.3)
  • Groupsign with: a group of letters inside a word (10.3)
1-6*
  • Groupsign ch: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Wordsign child: the whole word, standing alone (10.2)
1-2-6<
  • Groupsign gh: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Indicator opening braille grouping indicator: groups symbols in technical material (3.4)
  • Begins a parenthesis as its second cell: after ⠐ it opens a parenthesis ⠐⠣ (7.1)
1-4-6%
  • Groupsign sh: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Wordsign shall: the whole word, standing alone (10.2)
1-4-5-6?
  • Groupsign th: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Wordsign this: the whole word, standing alone (10.2)
1-5-6:
  • Groupsign wh: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Wordsign which: the whole word, standing alone (10.2)
1-2-4-6$
  • Groupsign ed: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Begins shape: begins a shape symbol (3.22)
1-2-4-5-6]
  • Groupsign er: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
1-2-5-6\
  • Groupsign ou: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Wordsign out: the whole word, standing alone (10.2)
  • Begins arrows: begins an arrow, e.g. ⠳⠕ right arrow (3.2)
2-4-6[
  • Groupsign ow: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
2-4-5-6W
  • Letter w: a letter (4.1)
  • Wordsign will: the whole word, standing alone (10.1)
21
  • Punctuation comma: punctuation (7.1)
  • Groupsign ea: a group of letters in the middle of a word (10.6)
2-32
  • Punctuation semicolon: punctuation (7.1)
  • Wordsign be: the whole word, standing alone (10.5)
  • Groupsign be: at the start of a word (10.6)
  • Groupsign bb: in the middle of a word (10.6)
2-53
  • Punctuation colon: punctuation (7.1)
  • Groupsign con: at the start of a word (10.6)
  • Groupsign cc: in the middle of a word (10.6)
2-5-64
  • Punctuation full stop (period): punctuation (7.1)
  • Groupsign dis: at the start of a word (10.6)
  • Digit decimal point: in numeric mode (6.2)
2-65
  • Groupsign en: a group of letters inside a word (10.6)
  • Wordsign enough: the whole word, standing alone (10.5)
  • Indicator subscript: in technical material (3.24)
2-3-56
  • Punctuation exclamation mark: punctuation (7.1)
  • Groupsign ff: in the middle of a word (10.6)
2-3-5-67
  • Wordsign were: the whole word, standing alone (10.5)
  • Groupsign gg: in the middle of a word (10.6)
2-3-68
  • Punctuation question mark: punctuation (7.5)
  • Punctuation opening double quotation mark: punctuation (7.6)
  • Wordsign his: the whole word, standing alone (10.5)
3-59
  • Wordsign in: the whole word, standing alone (10.5)
  • Groupsign in: a group of letters inside a word (10.6)
  • Indicator superscript: in technical material (3.24)
3-5-60
  • Punctuation closing double quotation mark: punctuation (7.6)
  • Wordsign was: the whole word, standing alone (10.5)
3-4/
  • Groupsign st: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Wordsign still: the whole word, standing alone (10.2)
  • Begins the slash as its second cell: after ⠸ it is the forward slash ⠸⠌ (7.4)
3-4-6+
  • Groupsign ing: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
3-4-5-6#
  • Indicator numeric indicator: before a digit (a–j) (6.1)
3-4-5>
  • Groupsign ar: a group of letters inside a word (10.4)
  • Indicator closing braille grouping indicator: closes a group (3.4)
4@
  • Begins symbols: at sign ⠈⠁, ampersand ⠈⠯, dollar ⠈⠎ and other currency (3.1, 3.7, 3.10)
4-5^
  • Begins initial-letter contractions: upon, these, those, whose, word (10.7)
  • Begins symbols and modifiers: accents, degree ⠘⠚, copyright ⠘⠉ (4.2, 3.8, 3.11)
4-5-6_
  • Begins initial-letter contractions: cannot, had, many, spirit, their, world (10.7)
  • Begins symbols: forward slash ⠸⠌, number sign ⠸⠹ (7.4, 3.19)
5"
  • Begins initial-letter contractions: day, ever, father, here, know, lord, mother, name, one, part, question, right, some, time, under, young, there, character, through, where, ought, work (10.7)
  • Begins symbols: parentheses ⠐⠣ ⠐⠜, asterisk ⠐⠔, plus ⠐⠖, equals ⠐⠶ (3.3, 3.17, 7.1)
4-6.
  • Begins final-letter groupsigns: ound, ance, sion, less, ount (10.8)
  • Begins symbols: percent ⠨⠴, square brackets ⠨⠣ ⠨⠜ (3.21, 7.1)
5-6;
  • Indicator grade 1 indicator: before a letter or sign that must not be read as a contraction, or after a number as a digit (5.2)
  • Begins final-letter groupsigns: ence, ong, ful, tion, ness, ment, ity (10.8)
6,
  • Indicator capital letter indicator: before a letter; ⠠⠠ for a word, ⠠⠠⠠ for a passage (8.3)
  • Begins symbols: begins the dash ⠠⠤ and single quotation marks (7.2, 7.6)
3'
  • Punctuation apostrophe: punctuation (7.6)
3-6-
  • Punctuation hyphen: punctuation (7.2)

Why one cell has several meanings

UEB gives most cells more than one meaning, and the cells around a cell decide which one applies. Braille has only 63 patterns of raised dots, far fewer than print has letters, digits, punctuation marks and symbols. The cell with dots 2-3-4 is the word “so” when it stands alone, and the letter s inside a word. The letter s on its own needs the grade 1 indicator ⠰ in front, so it is not read as “so”.

“so”, then the letter s on its own, then “is”:

A letter on its own, other than a, i or o, takes the grade 1 indicator ⠰ so that it is not read as a whole word. (ICEB 2.6.1, 5.2.1, 5.7.1)

The seven cells made only from dots 4, 5 and 6 are prefixes: they begin longer signs (ICEB 1.2.5–1.2.7), such as the contraction ⠐⠙ (day) or the symbol ⠈⠎ (dollar). Two of them also work as indicators: ⠠ before a capital letter and ⠰ for grade 1. An indicator is a braille sign with no print symbol of its own; it tells the reader how to read the signs after it. (ICEB 2.1)

Questions

What is a braille cell?

The space for one braille character: two columns of three dot positions. Each of the 63 combinations of raised dots is a different cell.

Why do some cells have no letter?

The alphabet uses 26 of the 63 cells. The rest are punctuation, contractions for common words and letter groups, and prefixes that begin longer signs.

What about eight-dot braille?

Eight-dot braille adds dots 7 and 8 below the cell and is used for computer braille on braille displays. UEB literary braille uses six dots. BRF and Braille ASCII

  • Braille Alphabet

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

  • Braille to English Translator

    Paste braille or type it cell by cell. The decoder checks its answer by translating it back.

  • Braille Contractions

    Every Grade 2 contraction in Unified English Braille, generated from the engine, with a lookup that names the contractions in any word.

  • Braille Punctuation and Symbols

    Punctuation, indicators and common symbols in UEB, with the signs that share a cell or change with position.