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Braille code where the word ⠏⠗⠑⠍⠊⠑⠗ (premier, French for "first") can be read.

The braille system, devised in 1821 by Frenchman Louis Braille, is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write. Each braille character or cell is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each. A dot may be raised at any of the six positions to form sixty-four (2⁶) permutations, including the arrangement in which no dots are raised. For reference purposes, a particular permutation may be described by naming the positions where dots are raised, the positions being universally numbered 1 to 3, from top to bottom, on the left, and 4 to 6, from top to bottom, on the right. For example, dots 1-3-4 would describe a cell with three dots raised, at the top and bottom in the left column and on top of the right column, i.e., the letter m. In braille, pages are separated by a line so that you can feel going across the page. ABCs redirects here. ... Non-linear writing is writing which made up of marks other than lines, to be distinguished from linear writing. ... Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852) was the inventor of braille[1], a world-wide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. ... Night writing was a system of code that used symbols of twelve dots arranged as two columns of six dots. ... Unicode’s Universal Character Set potentially supports over 1 million (1,114,112 = 220 + 216 or 17 × 216, hexadecimal 110000) code points. ... ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of writing systems (scripts). ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Image File history File links En-braille. ... Image File history File links Sound-icon. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links DSC_4050-MR-Braille. ... Image File history File links DSC_4050-MR-Braille. ... Year 1821 (MDCCCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852) was the inventor of braille[1], a world-wide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. ... This article is about the visual condition. ... In geometry, a rectangle is defined as a quadrilateral where all four of its angles are right angles. ...

The braille system was based on a method of communication originally developed by Charles Barbier in response to Napoleon's demand for a code that soldiers could use to communicate silently and without light at night called night writing. Barbier's system was too complex for soldiers to learn, and was rejected by the military; in 1821 he visited the National Institute for the Blind in Paris, France, where he met Louis Braille. Braille identified the major failing of the code, which was that the human finger could not encompass the whole symbol without moving, and so could not move rapidly from one symbol to another. His modification was to use a 6 dot cell — the braille system — which revolutionized written communication for the blind. Charles Barbier de la Serre was the creator of night writing. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... In communications, a code is a rule for converting a piece of information (for example, a letter, word, or phrase) into another form or representation, not necessarily of the same type. ... Night writing was a system of code that used symbols of twelve dots arranged as two columns of six dots. ... This article is about the capital of France. ...

The Braille alphabet

Braille can be seen as the world's first binary encoding scheme for representing the characters of a writing system. The system as originally invented by Braille consists of two parts: The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, is a numeral system that represents numeric values using two symbols, usually 0 and 1. ... A character encoding or character set (sometimes referred to as code page) consists of a code that pairs a sequence of characters from a given set with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the storage of text in computers... Writing systems of the world today. ...

1. A character encoding for mapping characters of the French language to tuples of six bits or dots.
2. A way of representing six-bit characters as raised dots in a Braille cell.

Today different braille codes (or code pages) are used to map character sets of different languages to the six bit cells. Different braille codes are also used for different uses like mathematics and music. However, because the six-dot Braille cell only offers 64 possible combinations, of which some are omitted because they feel the same (having the same dots pattern in a different position), many Braille characters have different meanings based on their context. Therefore, character mapping is not one-to-one. A character encoding or character set (sometimes referred to as code page) consists of a code that pairs a sequence of characters from a given set with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the storage of text in computers... French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ... In mathematics, a tuple is a finite sequence (also known as an ordered list) of objects, each of a specified type. ... This article is about the unit of information. ... A Braille code is a code similar to a code page, that maps the characters of a writing system to the six, or in some cases eight, raised dots (or bits) of the Braille cell. ... Code page is the traditional IBM term used for a specific character encoding table: a mapping in which a sequence of bits, usually a single octet representing integer values 0 through 255, is associated with a specific character. ...

In addition to simple encoding, modern braille transcription uses contractions to increase reading speed. (See: Grade 2 Braille) In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

The Braille cell

Braille cell

Braille generally consists of cells of 6 raised dots arranged in a grid of two dots horizontally by three dots vertically. The dots are conventionally numbered 1, 2, and 3 from the top of the leftward column and 4, 5, and 6 from the top of the rightward column. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... PREMIER - first The braille system, devised in 1821 by Louis Braille, is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write. ...

The presence or absence of dots gives the coding for the symbol. Dot height is approximately 0.02 inches (0.5 mm); the horizontal and vertical spacing between dot centers within a braille cell is approximately 0.1 inches (2.5 mm); the blank space between dots on adjacent cells is approximately 0.15 inches (3.75 mm) horizontally and 0.2 inches (5.0 mm) vertically. A standard braille page is 11 inches by 11.5 inches and typically has a maximum of 40 to 43 braille cells per line and 25 lines.

Encoding

As originally conceived by Louis Braille, a sequence of characters, using the top 4 dots of the braille cell, represents letters a through j. Dot 3 is added to each of the a through j symbols to give letters k through t. Both of the bottom dots (dots 3 and 6) are added to the symbols for "a" through e to give letters u, v, x, y, and z. The letter w is an exception to the pattern because French did not make use of the letter "w" at the time Louis Braille devised his alphabet, and thus he had no need to encode the letter "w". Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852) was the inventor of braille[1], a world-wide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. ... For other uses of A, see A (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see J (disambiguation). ... For other uses of A, see A (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see J (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see K (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see T (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see E (disambiguation). ... For other uses of U, see U (disambiguation). ... Look up V, v in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see X (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Y (disambiguation). ... Look up Z, z in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up W, w in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

English braille codes the letters and punctuation, and some double letter signs and word signs directly, but capitalization and numbers are dealt with by using a prefix symbol. In practice, braille produced in the United Kingdom does not have capital letters. Unified English Braille Code (UEBC) is an English Braille code developed to permit representing the wide variety of literary and technical material in use in the English-speaking world today. ... In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ...

There are braille codes for representing shorthand (produced on a machine which embosses a paper tape) and for representing mathematics (Method Braille) and musical notation (braille music). Shorthand is an abbreviated, symbolic writing method that improves speed of writing or brevity as compared to a normal method of writing a language. ... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Braille music is a Braille code that allows music to be notated using Braille cells so that music can be read by visually impaired musicians. ...

Writing braille

Braille may be produced using a slate and a stylus in which each dot is created from the back of the page, writing in mirror image, by hand, or it may be produced on a braille typewriter or Perkins Brailler, or produced by a braille embosser attached to a computer. It may also be rendered using a refreshable braille display. // The Perkins Brailler The Perkins Brailler is a simple, inexpensive machine used to write braille. ... A Braille embosser is a printer, necessarily an impact printer, that renders text as Braille. ... A refreshable Braille display is an electro-mechanical device for displaying Braille characters, usually by means of raising dots through holes in a flat surface. ...

Braille has been extended to an 8-dot code, particularly for use with braille embossers and refreshable braille displays. In 8-dot braille the additional dots are added at the bottom of the cell, giving a matrix 4 dots high by 2 dots wide. The additional dots are given the numbers 7 (for the lower-left dot) and 8 (for the lower-right dot). 8-dot braille has the advantages that the case of an individual letter is directly coded in the cell containing the letter and that all the printable ASCII characters can be represented in a single cell. All 256 (2⁸) possible combinations of 8 dots are encoded by the Unicode standard. Braille with six dots is frequently stored as braille ASCII. Image:ASCII fullsvg There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Braille ASCII (or more formally The North American Braille ASCII Code) is a subset of the ASCII character set which uses 64 of the printable ASCII characters to represent all possible dot combinations in six-dot Braille. ...

Letters and numbers

A, 1 Image File history File links Braille_A1. ... For other uses of A, see A (disambiguation). ... This article is about the number one. ...	B, 2 Image File history File links Braille_B2. ... For other uses of B, see B (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...	C, 3 Image File history File links Braille_C3. ... Look up C, c in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the number. ...	D, 4 Image File history File links Braille_D4. ... For other uses, see D (disambiguation). ... This article discusses the number Four. ...
E, 5 Image File history File links Braille_E5. ... For other uses, see E (disambiguation). ... Look up five in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	F, 6 Image File history File links Braille_F6. ... Look up F, f in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up six in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	G, 7 Image File history File links Braille_G7. ... For other uses, see G (disambiguation). ... Seven Days of Creation - 1765 book, title page 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. ...	H, 8 Image File history File links Braille_H8. ... Look up H, h in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up eight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
I, 9 Image File history File links Braille_I9. ... Look up I, i in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the number. ...	J, 0 Image File history File links Braille_J0. ... For other uses, see J (disambiguation). ... For other senses of this word, see zero or 0. ...	K Image File history File links Braille_K.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses, see K (disambiguation). ...	L Image File history File links Braille_L.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses, see L (disambiguation). ...
M Image File history File links Braille_M.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses of M, see M (disambiguation). ...	N Image File history File links Braille_N.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up N, n in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	O Image File history File links Braille_O.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up O, o in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	P Image File history File links Braille_P.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... This article is about the Latin alphabet letter. ...
Q Image File history File links Braille_Q.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... This article is about the Latin alphabet letter. ...	R Image File history File links Braille_R.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up R, r in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	S Image File history File links Braille_S.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up S, s in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	T Image File history File links Braille_T.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses, see T (disambiguation). ...
U Image File history File links Braille_U.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses of U, see U (disambiguation). ...	V Image File history File links Braille_V.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up V, v in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	W Image File history File links Braille_W.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up W, w in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...	X Image File history File links Braille_X.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses, see X (disambiguation). ...
Y Image File history File links Braille_Y.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... For other uses, see Y (disambiguation). ...	Z Image File history File links Braille_Z.svg en: Braille letter/symbol. ... Look up Z, z in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Other symbols

Capital letter follows Image File history File links Braille_CapitalSign. ...	Number follows Image File history File links Braille_NumberSign. ...	Apostrophe Image File history File links Braille_Apostrophe. ... For the prime symbol (′) used for feet and inches, see Prime (symbol). ...	Full stop (Period) Image File history File links Braille_Period. ... A full stop or period (sometimes stop, full point, decimal point, or dot), is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of several different types of sentences in English and many other languages. ...
Comma Image File history File links Braille_Comma. ... The term comma has various uses; comma is the name used for one of the punctuation symbols: , The term comma is also used in music theory for various small intervals that arise as differences between approximately equal intervals. ...	Semicolon Image File history File links Braille_Semicolon. ... A semicolon (  ;  ) is a punctuation mark. ...	Exclamation point Image File history File links Braille_ExclamationPoint. ... An exclamation mark (also exclamation point, and (rarely) mark of admiration) is a punctuation mark or, more pedantically, a tone mark. ...	Opening quotation mark Image File history File links Braille_QuoteOpen. ... Quotation marks or inverted commas (also called quotes and speech marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech, a quotation, a phrase or a word. ...
Closing quotation mark Image File history File links Braille_QuoteClose. ... Quotation marks or inverted commas (also called quotes and speech marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech, a quotation, a phrase or a word. ...	Bracket (Parentheses) Image File history File links Braille_Bracket. ... For technical reasons, :) and some similar combinations starting with : redirect here. ...	Hyphen Image File history File links Braille_Hyphen. ... This article is about the punctuation mark. ...

The question mark is dots 2,3,6—the same as the opening quotation mark. Therefore the placement of the dots—before a word or after a word—will determine which symbol it is. ? redirects here. ...

Opening and closing parentheses are shown with the same symbol. Therefore, the placement context will determine whether the parentheses is opening or closing.

Grade 2 Braille Contractions

The word AND Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...	The letters CH	The letters SH Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...	The letters ST Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
The letters TH Image File history File links Braille_Ô.svg‎ Braille letter/symbol. ...

This is just a small sample of some of the contractions that are used in Grade 2 Braille. More information about Grade 2 Braille is below in the section on Braille transcription. In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

Braille also includes a number of whole word contractions, for example the word Braille becomes a three cell word brl.

Unicode rendering table

The Unicode standard encodes 8-dot Braille glyphs according to their binary appearance, rather than following the alphabetic order of any particular convention. Unicode defines the "Braille Patterns" character block in the hex codepoint range from 2800 to 28FF.

Braille transcription

Braille Writer

Braille on a box of tablets

Although it is possible to transcribe braille by simply substituting the equivalent braille character for its printed equivalent, such a character-by-character transcription (known as Grade 1 Braille) is used only by beginners. Image File history File links Braille Writer Photography person : MASA Photography day :November, 2004 Photography place :Japanese light house at Osaka City Tsurumi-ku File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Braille Writer Photography person : MASA Photography day :November, 2004 Photography place :Japanese light house at Osaka City Tsurumi-ku File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (3648 × 2736 pixel, file size: 3. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (3648 × 2736 pixel, file size: 3. ...

Braille characters are much larger than their printed equivalents, and the standard 11" by 11.5" (28 cm × 30 cm) page has room for only 25 lines of 43 characters. To reduce space and increase reading speed, virtually all braille books are transcribed in what is known as Grade 2 Braille, which uses a system of contractions to reduce space and speed the process of reading. As with most human linguistic activities, Grade 2 Braille embodies a complex system of customs, styles, and practices. The Library of Congress's Instruction Manual for Braille Transcribing runs to nearly 200 pages. Braille transcription is skilled work, and braille transcribers need to pass certification tests. In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

In English, the system of Grade 2 Braille contractions begins with a set of 23 words which are contracted to single characters. Thus the word but is contracted to the single letter b, can to c, do to d, and so on. Even this simple rule creates issues requiring special cases; for example, d is, specifically, an abbreviation of the verb do; the noun do representing the note of the musical scale is a different word, and must be spelled out. In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

Portions of words may be contracted, and many rules govern this process. For example, the character with dots 2-3-5 (the letter "f" lowered in the braille cell) stands for "ff" when used in the middle of a word. At the beginning of a word, this same character stands for the word "to" although the character is written in braille with no space following it. At the end of a word, the same character represents an exclamation point.

The contraction rules take into account the linguistic structure of the word; thus, contractions are not to be used when their use would alter the usual braille form of a base word to which a prefix or suffix has been added. And some portions of the transcription rules are not fully codified and rely on the judgement of the transcriber. Thus, when the contraction rules permit the same word in more than one way, preference is given to "the contraction that more nearly approximates correct pronunciation." In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

Grade 3 Braille is a system that includes many additional contractions, almost a shorthand; it is not used for publication, but is used mostly for individuals for their personal convenience. In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

The current series of Canadian banknotes have raised dots on the banknotes that indicate the denomination and can be easily identified by visually impaired people; this 'tactile feature' does not use standard braille but, instead, a system developed in consultation with blind and visually impaired Canadians after research indicated that not all potential users read braille. C$ redirects here. ... Current Canadian banknotes (the Canadian Journey series) have a tactile feature to indicate denomination in the upper right corner of the face side of the bill. ...

Small broken-up square pattern on Mexican Peso.

Mexican bank notes also have special raised symbols to make them identifiable by the visually impaired. Image File history File links 200mxn_relieve. ... Image File history File links 200mxn_relieve. ... ISO 4217 Code MXN User(s) Mexico Inflation 3. ... ISO 4217 Code MXN User(s) Mexico Inflation 3. ...

Though braille is thought to be the main way blind people read and write, in Britain (for example) out of the reported 2 million visually impaired population, it is estimated that only around 15-20 thousand people use Braille. Younger people are turning to electronic text on computers instead; a more portable communication method that they can also use with their friends. A debate has started on how to make braille more attractive and for more teachers to be available to teach it.

In India there are instances where the parliament acts have been published in Braille too. For example 'The Right to Information Act'

Braille for other scripts

See main articles: Hebrew braille, Japanese braille, Korean braille, Vietnamese braille, Tibetan braille, and Chinese braille.

The information about the historic site of Safdarjung’s tomb in Delhi, India. The braille plate is installed near the English version of the same.

The English version of the braille plate.

There are many extensions of Braille for additional letters with diacritics, such as ç, ô, é. Hebrew Braille is the system of braille used by Hebrew speakers and specifically, in the State of Israel. ... Japanese braille is a braille code for writing the Japanese language. ... Korean Braille is related to other braille systems found around the world. ... Vietnamse Braille (Màn hình chữ nổi) is a Braille system for the Vietnamese language. ... Sabriye Tenberken (born 1970) is a German socialworker and co-founder of the organisation Braille Without Borders. ... Chinese braille(盲文mángwén、凸文tÅ«wén)is a braille system for the Chinese language, especially in Peoples Republic of China. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (962x1653, 220 KB) Summary Photographed by Pratheepps Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Braille ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (962x1653, 220 KB) Summary Photographed by Pratheepps Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Braille ... An upper middle class area of South Delhi located near Hauz Khas and Green Park. ... , For other uses, see Delhi (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Safdarjungtomb_notice. ... Image File history File links Safdarjungtomb_notice. ... Example of a letter with a diacritic A diacritic or diacritical mark, also called an accent, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ...

When braille is adapted to languages which do not use the Latin alphabet, the blocks are generally assigned to the new alphabet according to how it is transliterated into the Latin alphabet, and the alphabetic order of the national script (and therefore the natural order of Latin braille) is disregarded. Such is the case with Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese. In Greek, for example, gamma is written as Latin g, despite the fact that it has the alphabetic position of c; Hebrew bet, the second letter of the alphabet and cognate with the Latin letter b, is sometimes pronounced /b/ and sometimes /v/, and is written b or v accordingly; Russian ts is written as c, which is the usual letter for /ts/ in those Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet; and Arabic f is written as f, despite being historically p, and occurring in that part of the Arabic alphabet (between historic o and q). Esperanto letters with circumflexes, ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ and ŝ, are written as those letters without circumflexes with a filled sixth dot. Therefore the letter ĵ has the same representation as the English w and to write a w in Esperanto, the dot 3 is filled (dots 2-3-4-5-6 are used for w instead of dots 2-4-5-6) The ŭ, used in Esperanto also, is as the u but the first dot is moved to the fourth place. Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz redirects here. ... Look up cognate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the language. ...

Greater differences occur in Chinese braille. In the case of Mandarin Braille, which is based on Zhuyin rather than the Latin Pinyin alphabet, the traditional Latin braille values are used for initial consonants and the simple vowels. However, on Latin braille for many of the initial consonants and simple vowels (based on romanizations of a century ago), but the blocks pull double duty, with different values depending on whether they're placed in syllable-initial or syllable-final position. For instance, the block for Latin k represents old-style Cantonese k (g in Yale and other modern romanizations) when initial, but aak when final, while Latin j represents Cantonese initial j but final oei. This article is on all of the Northern and Southwestern Chinese dialects. ... Zhuyin fuhao (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chu-yin fu-hao), or Symbols for Annotating Sounds, often abbreviated as Zhuyin, or known as Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first four letters of this Chinese phonemic alphabet (bo po mo fo), is the national phonetic system of the... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... The Yale romanizations are four systems created during World War II for use by United States military personnel. ...

However, at least three adaptations of Braille have completely reassigned the Latin sound values of the blocks. These are, Japanese braille, Korean braille, and Tibetan braille.

In Japanese Braille, alphabetic signs for a consonant and vowel are combined into a single syllabic block; in Korean Braille, the consonants have different syllable-initial and syllable-final forms. These modifications made Braille much more compatible with Japanese kana and Korean hangul, but meant that the Latin sound values could not be maintained. Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Manyogana 万葉仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Rōmaji ローマ字 For other meanings of Kana, see Kana (disambiguation). ... Jamo redirects here. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Braille

• Refreshable Braille display
• Moon type
• Unified English Braille Code
• List of binary codes
• Braille ASCII
• Hebrew Braille

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... A refreshable Braille display is an electro-mechanical device for displaying Braille characters, usually by means of raising dots through holes in a flat surface. ... The Moon System of Embossed Reading (Moon alphabet, Moon type or Moon code) is a system of writing for the blind, using embossed symbols mostly derived from the Roman alphabet (but simplified). ... Unified English Braille Code (UEBC) is an English Braille code developed to permit representing the wide variety of literary and technical material in use in the English-speaking world today. ... Braille ASCII (or more formally The North American Braille ASCII Code) is a subset of the ASCII character set which uses 64 of the printable ASCII characters to represent all possible dot combinations in six-dot Braille. ... Hebrew Braille is the system of braille used by Hebrew speakers and specifically, in the State of Israel. ...

Organizations

• Braille Authority of North America
• Braille - American Foundation for the Blind
• Royal National Institute For The Blind
• Perkins School for the Blind
• National Braille Press - offers a free Braille alphabet card
• Alternate Text Production Center
• National Braille Association, Inc.

Libraries

• The National Library for the Blind
• Libraries Australia - catalog of braille in 800+ Australian libraries

Learning

• Braille Bug - an educational site for kids, from the American Foundation for the Blind
• BRL: Braille Through Remote Learning
• On-line Braille Course of University of São Paulo
• Online Braille Generator
• A braille alphabet card

History

• How Braille Began -- a detailed history of braille's origins and the people who supported and opposed the system.
• Robert B. Irwin's As I Saw It, 1955, gives a history of the "War of the Dots" that ultimately led to the adoption of the English form of the braille literary code in the United States and the demise of American braille and New York Point, its main competitors.

New York Point is a system of writing for the blind invented by William Bell Wait (1839-1916), a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. ...

Documents

• English Braille: American Edition
• Library of Congress Instructional Manual for Braille Transcribing
• Details on Braille cell representation
• Unified (English) Braille Code (including information specific to British braille)
• Braille code for Russian and transliteration of Cyrillic

Legal

• India-Right to Information Act in Braille
• US copyright exemption for Braille

Language Specific Resources

• - Braille WithoutBorders - Braille for Tibetans

Computer Resources

• Braille for various scripts
• Free Braille fonts
• Free Unicode Braille TTF font (supports all Braille scripts)
• Free Unicode fonts which include braille

v • d • e Writing systems
Overview	History of writing · Graphemes ·
Lists	List of writing systems · List of languages by writing system · List of writing systems by number of native users · List of languages by first written accounts · List of undeciphered writing systems · List of inventors of writing systems
Types	Abjads (Numerals) Aramaic · Arabic · Hebrew · Jawi · Nabatean · Pahlavi · Phoenician · Proto-Canaanite · Psalter · Sabaean · Samaritan · South Arabian · Sogdian · Syriac · Tifinagh · Ugaritic Abugidas Brahmic family: Ahom · Balinese · Batak · Baybayin · Brāhmī · Buhid · Burmese · Chakma · Cham · Devanāgarī · Dhives Akuru · Eastern Nagari · Grantha · Gujarati · Gupta · Gurmukhī · Hanunó'o · Javanese · Kadamba  · Kaithi · Kalinga · Kannada · Khmer · Lanna · Lao · Lepcha · Limbu · Lontara · Malayalam · Meitei Mayek · Mithilakshar · Modi · Mon · Nāgarī · Nepal  · Old Kawi · Old Sundanese · Oriya · Pallava · Phagspa · Ranjana · Rejang · Śāradā · Saurashtra · Sinhala · Siddhaṃ · Soyombo · Sundanese · Sylheti Nagari · Tagbanwa · Tai Dam · Tai Le · Takri · Tamil · Telugu · Thai · Tibetan · Tocharian · Varang Kshiti Other: Boyd's Syllabic Shorthand · Canadian Aboriginal · Ge'ez · Hebrew cursive · Japanese braille · Kharosthi · Meroitic · Pitman Shorthand · Pollard script · Sorang Sompeng · Thaana · Thomas Natural Shorthand Alphabets Linear: Arabic · Armenian · Avestan · Beitha Kukju · Coptic · Cyrillic · Eclectic Shorthand · Elbasan · Fraser · Gabelsberger shorthand · Georgian · Glagolitic · Gothic · Gregg Shorthand · Greek · Greco-Iberian alphabet · Hangul · International Phonetic · Latin · Manchu · Mandaic · Mongolian · Neo-Tifinagh · N'Ko · Ogham · Ol Chiki · Old Hungarian · Old Italic · Old Permic · Orkhon · Osmanya · Runic · Shavian alphabet · New Tai Lue · Bassa Vah · Visible Speech · Zhùyīn fúhào · Pahawh Hmong Non-linear: Braille · Hebrew braille · Korean braille · Maritime flags · Morse code · New York Point · Semaphore line · Flag semaphore Ideo- & Pictograms Blissymbol · DanceWriting · Dongba · Mi'kmaq · New Epoch Notation Painting · SignWriting Logograms Egyptian consonant-based: Demotic · Hieratic · Hieroglyphs Syllable-based: Anatolian · Cuneiform  · Dongba script · Maya · Tangut script · Yi Chinese-based: Chinese characters (Traditional · Simplified) · Chữ Nôm · Hanja · Geba · Jurchen · Kanji · Khitan · Zhuang Writing systems of the world today. ... Writing systems evolved in the Early Bronze Age (late 4th millennium BC) out of neolithic proto-writing. ... In typography, a grapheme is the atomic unit in written language. ... Image File history File links Kielitynkäkuva. ... A list of writing systems (or scripts), classified according to some common distinguishing features. ... . ... This is a list of languages by first written accounts which consists of the approximate dates for the first written accounts that are known for various languages. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This is a chronological list of any individuals, legendary or real, who are purported by traditions to have invented alphabets or other writing systems, whether this is proven or not. ... A list of writing systems (or scripts), classified according to some common distinguishing features. ... The first five letters of the Phoenician abjad, from right to left An abjad, sometimes also called a consonantary or consonantal alphabet, is a type of writing system in which there is one symbol per consonantal phoneme. ... The Abjad numerals are a decimal numeral system which was used in the Arabic-speaking world prior to the use of the Hindu-Arabic numerals from the 8th century, and in parallel with the latter until Modern times. ... Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great, 3rd century BC. The Aramaic alphabet is an abjad alphabet designed for writing the Aramaic language. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Yawi. ... The Nabatean alphabet is a consonantal alphabet (abjad) that was used by the Nabateans in the 2nd century BC. Important inscriptions are found in Petra. ... The Pahlavi script was used broadly in the Sasanid Persian Empire to write down Middle Persian for secular, as well as religious purposes. ... The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to begin with a cut-off date of 1050 BCE. It was used by the Phoenicians to write Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language. ... The Proto-Canaanite alphabet is an abjad of twenty-plus acrophonic glyphs, which is found in Levantine texts of the Late Bronze Age (from ca. ... The Samaritan alphabet is a direct descendant of the paleo-Hebrew variety of the Phoenician alphabet, the more commonly known Hebrew alphabet having been adapted from the Aramaic alphabet under the Persian Empire. ... The ancient South Arabian alphabet (also known as musnad) branched from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in ca. ... The Sogdian alphabet is derived from Syriac, the descendant script of Aramaic alphabet. ... 11th century book in Syriac Serto. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Ugaritic alphabet is a cuneiform version of the Levantine consonant alphabet (abjad), used from around 1300 BC for the Ugaritic language, an extinct Canaanite language discovered in Ugarit, Syria. ... An inscription of Swampy Cree using Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, an abugida developed by Christian missionaries for Aboriginal Canadian languages An abugida, alphasyllabary, or syllabics is a writing system in which consonant signs (graphemes) are inherently associated with a following vowel. ... The Brahmic family is a family of abugidas (writing systems) used in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, descended from the BrāhmÄ« script of Mauryan India. ... Basic signs of the Balinese script The Balinese alphabet is a type of alphabet called an abugida that was used to write the Balinese language, an Austronesian language spoken by about three million people on the Indonesian island of Bali. ... Baybayin (sometimes called Alibata) is a pre-Hispanic Tagalog writing system that originated from the Javanese script Kavi. ... Variation of BrāhmÄ« with dates. ... An indigenous Brahmic script of the Philippines. ...   The Eastern (Vietnamese) Cham Writing Script The Cham alphabet is used to write Cham, an Austronesian language spoken by the Cham people in Vietnam and Cambodia. ... () is an abugida script used to write several Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati,Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Santhali, Nepali, Newari, Tharu and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... The Kanai Baraxiboa rock inscription near Guwahati. ... Grantha (Punjabi , Tamil , from Sanskrit ग्रन्थ grantha meaning book or manuscript) is an ancient script that was prevalent in South India. ... The Gujarati script (ગુજરાતી લિપિ GujarātÄ« Lipi), which like all NāgarÄ« writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. ... The Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. ... The GurmukhÄ« (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ) script is derived from the Later Sharada script and was standardized by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad Dev, in the 16th century for writing the Punjabi language. ... Javanese script is the script that Javanese is originally written in (not to be confused with Javascript, which is a programming language). ... The Kadamba script marks the birth of a dedicated Kannada script that was used for Kannada language. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... This article or section uses Khmer characters which may be rendered as boxes or other nonsensical symbols. ... Kham Mueang in its own alphabet The Northern Thai language or Kham Mueang (คำเมือง) is the language of the Thai Yuan people of Lannathai, Thailand. ...   Lepcha script is used by the Lepcha people. ... The Limbu alphabet, or Kirat-Sirijonga script, is a Brahmic script used to write the Limbu language of northern India and Nepal. ... The Lontara script was a native scripts used for writing the Buginese language and also other Malayo-Polynesian languages of southeast Asia. ... The Malayalam script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write the Malayalam language. ...   Sample of Meitei Mayek script, showing the main consonants in the alphabet Meitei Mayek script (also Meithei Mayek, Meetei Mayek, Manipuri script) (Manipuri: Meetei Mayek) is a syllabic script used for the Meitei language (Manipuri), one of the official languages of the Indian state of Manipur. ... Mithilakshar (also known as Tirhuta) is the traditional script of the Maithili language, which is is spoken in the Indian state of Bihar and eastern Nepal. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Old Kawi is the oldest Kawi script used on Bali in 775 AD. It is written on palm leaves. ... The Oriya script is used to write the Oriya language. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Tamil script. ... The word Wiki in Phagspa characters The Phagspa script (also square script) was an Abugida designed by the Lama Phagspa for the emperor Kublai Khan during the Yuan Dynasty in China, as a unified script for all languages within the Mongolian Empire. ... The Newari script also known as the Ranjana script is used for writing the Newari language of Nepal. ... The Rejang script, sometimes spelt Redjang and locally known as Aksara Kaganga (Ka Ga Nga alphabet) after its first three letters, is an abugida of the Brahmic family, and is related to other scripts of the region, like Batak, Buginese, and Kerinci. ...   Saurashtra was a script used to write the Saurashtra language. ... The Sinhala script is used to write the Sinhala language. ... Soyombo script - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Sundanese is a script that once was used to write the Sundanese language. ... Sylheti Nagari is the original script used for writing the Sylheti language. ... Tagbanwa is one of the indigenous writing systems of the Philippines. ... Tai Dam is a Tai language spoken in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and China (mostly in Jinping 金平). It is called paːsaː tai dam ภาษาไทดำ (Black Tai) in Thai and DÇŽidānyÇ” 傣担语 in Chinese. ...   Tai Le is a script used for the Tai Nüa language. ... The Takri script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Telugu script, an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write Telugu, a Dravidian Language found in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as well as several other neighboring states. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Boyds Syllabic Shorthand is a system of shorthand invented by Robert Boyd, published originally in 1903, and updated in 1912. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Hebrew cursive script is a style of Hebrew calligraphy that is very popular for writing Modern Hebrew by hand, since it is arguably easier to learn and faster to write than the traditional Hebrew script. ... Japanese braille is a braille code for writing the Japanese language. ... The Kharoṣṭhī script, also known as the Gāndhārī script, is an ancient alphabetic script used by the Gandhara culture of historic northwest India to write the Gandhari and Sanskrit languages (the Gandhara kingdom was located along the present-day border between Afghanistan and Pakistan between the Indus River and the... The Meroitic script is an alphabet of Egyptian (Hieroglyphic) origin used in Kingdom of Meroë. Some scholars, e. ... Pitman Shorthand is a system of shorthand for the English language developed by Sir Isaac Pitman (1813–1897), who first presented it in 1837. ... The Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao, is an abugida or writing system invented by Methodist missionary Sam Pollard. ... Sora (also Saora, Saonras, Shabari, Sabar, Saura, Savara, Sawaria, Swara, Sabara) is a Munda language of India, spoken by some 288,000 native speakers (1997) in South Orissa, mainly in the Ganjam District, but also in the Koraput and Phulbani districts; other communities exist in Andhra Pradesh (Srikakulam District), Madhya... Thomas Natural Shorthand is an English shorthand system created by Charles A. Thomas which was first published in 1935. ... ABCs redirects here. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... The Avestan alphabet was created in the 3rd century AD for writing the hymns of Zarathustra (a. ... Beitha Kukju was an Albanian who invented a script used for the Albanian language in about 1840, called the Beitha Kukju script after its inventor. ... The Coptic alphabet is an alphabet used for writing the Coptic language. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is actually a family of alphabets, subsets of which are used by certain Slavic languages — Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—as well as many other languages of the former Soviet Union... Eclectic shorthand (sometimes called Cross shorthand or Eclectic-Cross shorthand after its founder, J.G. Cross) is an English shorthand system of the 19th century. ... Elbasan script is an eighteenth-century script used for the Albanian language. ... The Fraser alphabet is an artificial script invented around 1915 by the missionary James O. Fraser to write the Lisu language. ... Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, is a form of shorthand previously common in Germany. ... The Glagolitic alphabet or Glagolitsa is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. ...   The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system attributed by Philostorgius to Wulfila, used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. ... Gregg Shorthand is a form of shorthand that was invented by John Robert Gregg in 1888. ... Paleohispanic scripts A Greco-Iberian alphabet Lead plaque from la Serreta (Alcoi). ... Jamo redirects here. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz redirects here. ... Manchu and Chinese writing in the Forbidden City The word “Manju” (Manchu) written in Manchu script. ... The Mandaic alphabet is based on the Aramaic alphabet, and is used for writing the Mandaic language. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The word NKo written in the NKo alphabet NKo is both a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 as a writing system for the Mande languages of West Africa, and the name of the literary language itself written in the script. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Ol Chiki script, also known as Ol Cemet (language of writing), Ol Ciki, Ol (and sometimes as the Santali alphabet, was created in 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu for the Santali language. ... Hungarian Runes (Hungarian: , ( ) or simply ) is a type of runic writing system used by the Magyars (mainly by Székely Magyars) prior to AD 1000. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Old Permic script, sometimes called Abur, is an original ancient Permic writing system introduced by a Russian missionary Stepan Khrap, also known as Saint (Stephen of Perm) (Степан Храп, св. Стефан Пермский) in 1372. ... Orkhon tablet Inscription in Kyzyl using Orkhon script Orkhon script The Orkhon script (also spelled Orhon script, also Orkhon-Yenisey script, Old Turkic script, Göktürk script, Turkish: Orhon Yazıtları) is the alphabet used by the Göktürk from the 8th century to record the Old Turkic... An Arabic-based script for the Somali language, now replaced both officially and in practise by the Latin alphabet. ... Rune redirects here. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...   New Tai Lue is an alphabet used for the Tai Lü language. ... Visible speech is the name of the system used by Alexander Melville Bell, who was known internationally as a teacher of speech and proper elocution and an author of books on the subject. ... Zhuyin fuhao (Chinese: ; written in Zhuyin fuhao: ㄓㄨˋ 一ㄋ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ), often abbreviated as Zhuyin, is a phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin, for people learning to read, write or speak Mandarin. ... The Pahawh Hmong script is an alphabet writing system for the Hmong language invented by Shong Lue Yang in 1959. ... Hebrew Braille is the system of braille used by Hebrew speakers and specifically, in the State of Israel. ... Korean Braille is related to other braille systems found around the world. ... The system of international maritime signal flags is a way of representing individual letters of the alphabet in signals to or from ships. ... 1922 Chart of the Morse Code Letters and Numerals Morse code is a method for transmitting telegraphic information, using standardized sequences of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. ... New York Point is a system of writing for the blind invented by William Bell Wait (1839-1916), a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. ... A Chinese character. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Blissymbols or Blissymbolics were conceived of as an ideographic writing system consisting of several hundred basic symbols, each representing a concept, which can be composed together to generate new symbols that represent new concepts. ... DanceWriting is a form of Dance notation. ... The Dongba are the shamans or priests of the Naxi people of southwestern China. ... Mikmaq hieroglyphic writing was a pictographic writing scheme and memory aid used by Mikmaq people both before and after European contact. ... New Epoch Art Notation is a conceptual writing system for pure visual images. ... A sign for photo model using SignWriting in the dictionary of the Flemish Sign Language Sign Writing is a system of writing the movements and handshapes of sign languages. ... Egyptian hieroglyphs, which have their origins as logograms. ... Demotic (from δημοτικά dimotika popular) refers to both the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, as well as the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. ... Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Champollion. ... A section of the Papyrus of Ani showing cursive hieroglyphs. ... Drawing of the hieroglyphic seal found in the Troy VIIb layer. ... Cuneiform redirects here. ... The Dongba are the shamans or priests of the Naxi people of southwestern China. ... Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico The Maya script, commonly known as Maya hieroglyphs, was the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only deciphered script of the Mesoamerican writing systems. ... The Tangut script is logographic, used for writing the Tangut language. ... The Yi scripts, also known as Cuan or Wei, are used to write the Yi languages. ... Japanese name Kanji: Hiragana: Korean name Hangul: Hanja: Vietnamese name Quốc ngữ: Hán tá»±: A Chinese character or Han character (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a logogram used in writing Chinese, Japanese, sometimes Korean, and formerly Vietnamese. ... Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Chữ nôm (𡦂喃 lit. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... The Jurchens (Chinese: 女真, pinyin: nǚzhēn) were a Tungus people who inhabited parts of Manchuria and northern Korea until the seventeenth century, when they became the Manchus. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... The Khitan language is a now-extinct language once spoken by the Khitan people. ... Zhuang logograms or sawndip is a logogram created as a derivative characters of Han characters and used by Zhuang in Guangxi, China. ... Aztec Semi-syllabaries Full semi-syllabaries: Celtiberian script  · Northeastern Iberian script  · Southeastern Iberian script Redundant semi-syllabaries: Southwestern script Syllabaries Afaka · Cherokee · Cypriot · Hiragana · Katakana · Kikakui · Kpelle · Linear B · Man'yōgana · Nü Shu · Old Persian Cuneiform · Vai · Woleaian · Yi · Yugtun