Braille Pattern Dots 1235678

A Braille cell with seven of its eight dots raised.

A Braille cell is a small grid of raised dots read by touch. The dots are numbered down the left column 1, 2, 3, then down the right column 4, 5, 6; eight-dot Braille adds 7 and 8 underneath. ⣷ raises 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8, so it looks like a solid block with a notch at the top right.

Unicode's Braille Patterns block holds all 256 possible eight-dot combinations and names each by its dots only. Which letter or sign a cell stands for is set by each language's Braille code, and neighbouring cells can change it. Eight-dot cells are used mainly in computer Braille and on refreshable Braille displays, where the extra row can mark things like capitals or the cursor.

Louis Braille built his six-dot system in the 1820s after meeting Charles Barbier's raised-dot writing. Barbier's twelve-dot cells were too tall to feel under one fingertip; Braille's small cell fits it exactly.

Why do I see ⣷ outside of Braille?

Because each Braille character works as a tiny 2×4 pixel grid.

That makes the block perfect for drawing: people build pictures, faces and memes out of Braille characters (Braille art) and post them in chats, comments and nicknames. ⣷ serves as an almost-full dark pixel block.

Programmers know it from loading spinners in terminal apps: cycling ⣾ ⣽ ⣻ ⢿ ⡿ ⣟ ⣯ ⣷ makes the one missing dot run around the cell, and ⣷ is the frame with the gap at the top right.

A blind person using a screen reader may hear Braille art read out cell by cell as long technical names, so a picture becomes noise for them.