Shortform
“herself” in braille
Written h-e-r-f — 7 letters cut to 4 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 4 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-2-5, then dots 1-2-4-5-6, then dots 1-2-4
Unicode ⠓⠻⠋ — 7 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
h-er-f, where the er in the middle is one cell rather than two. It is one of eight -self and -selves shortforms, and the only one that needs a contraction to stay inside three cells. It is also the rarest of the five -self words in ordinary writing, which is why it is the one most often forgotten.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “herself” loses 3 letters — s, e, l — to become herf. Then it contracts again: er is a single cell, which is how 4 letters of abbreviation fit into 3 cells.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | herself | 7 cells |
| Abbreviated | herf | 4 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
Only an added s keeps it
No English word begins with “herself” 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: “herselfs” is h-e-r-f-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 -self words
This is one of 7 shortforms built to the same shape — the pronoun, then an f — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: himself (hmf), itself (xf), myself (myf), oneself (onef), thyself (thyf), yourself (yrf).
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-5 | the letter h; the word “have” standing alone | |
| 1-2-4-5-6 | the letters er inside a word | |
| 1-2-4 | the letter f; the word “from” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “herself” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“herself” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: herf in 3 cells, not 7 letters.
