braille

UK/ˈbɹeɪ̯l/US/ˈbɹeɪ̯l/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,262 of 15,258leans written

Braille is a writing system of raised dots read by touch. Read braille, a braille label, learn braille.

Each character is a cell of up to six dots in two columns of three, and a skilled reader manages a speed close to reading aloud. It is not a language but a code, so there is French braille, Arabic braille and so on. Louis Braille devised it at fifteen.

Definitions of braille

1nounbrailleA writing system of raised dots read by touch.B2+
“She ran her fingers along the lines of braille, reading the story aloud.”

braille is a writing system.

Where it comes from

Named after Louis Braille, who lost his sight as a child and devised the system in 1824, aged fifteen.

French
braille
English, today
braille

Borrowed from French braille, named after Louis Braille. The /eɪl/ seems to reflect a; French has /aj/ instead.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Disability & Access

Practise this word

braille in the wild

In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he developed the braille code based on the French alphabet as an improvement on night writing.
Braille
A full braille cell includes six raised dots arranged in two columns, each column having three dots.
Braille
Braille music uses the same six-position braille cell as literary braille.
Braille music
However braille music assigns its own meanings and has its own syntax and abbreviations.
Braille music
Nemeth Braille is one code used to write mathematics in braille.
Nemeth Braille

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

← Vocabulary