Braille pattern dots 1678

It specifies dots 1, 6, 7 and 8. Braille is writing read through raised dots, used by blind readers. A cell is one group of dots. Different braille codes assign patterns to letters, punctuation and other signs, so this pattern alone does not identify a universal letter or word.

An eight-dot cell has two columns of four positions. Viewed from the reading side, the left column runs 1, 2, 3, 7 from top to bottom; the right runs 4, 5, 6, 8. In ⣡, positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 are empty. “Eight-dot” describes the available positions, not the number of dots present.

If ⣡ appears inside a picture made from text characters, its dots can form part of the picture rather than spell anything. For braille writing, you need to know which language and code the text uses to decode it.

Eight-dot braille extends the original six-dot cell

In 1821, Louis Braille encountered Charles Barbier’s 12-dot night writing, devised for military communication in darkness. He developed a six-dot system small enough to read with a fingertip and published it in 1829. Braille was later adapted for different languages and specialist subjects. Eight-dot braille adds a bottom row to the six-dot cell, making more patterns possible.