Shortform
“although” in braille
Written a-l-t-h — 8 letters cut to 4 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 5 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2-3, then dots 1-4-5-6
Unicode ⠁⠇⠹ — 8 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-l-th, where the th is a single cell, so four letters of abbreviation still fit in three cells. It is the only al- word whose third cell is a contraction rather than a plain letter.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “although” loses 4 letters — o, u, g, h — to become alth. Then it contracts again: th is a single cell, which is how 4 letters of abbreviation fit into 3 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | although | 8 cells |
| Abbreviated | alth | 4 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Only an added s keeps it
No English word begins with “although” except the word itself, so there is nothing for an ending rule to decide here. These 3 cells write the bare word, and with an s added they still stand: “althoughs” is a-l-t-h-s, because a shortform keeps its cells when s is added (Rules of Unified English Braille 10.9.5). “good” is the opposite case — it carries seven different endings.
Learn it with the al- words
This is one of 6 shortforms built to the same shape — a-l, then what tells them apart — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: almost (alm), already (alr), also (al), altogether (alt), always (alw).
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the letter a | |
| 1-2-3 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone | |
| 1-4-5-6 | the letters th inside a word, and the word “this” alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “although” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“although” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: alth in 3 cells, not 8 letters.
