Braille symbols: six dots, then eight
A braille cell is two columns of raised dots. In the six-dot cell of literary braille the left column is numbered 1, 2, 3 from the top and the right column 4, 5, 6, so is dot 1, is dots 1 and 2, and is dots 1, 2 and 3. Eight-dot braille adds dot 7 under the left column and dot 8 under the right, giving and ; it is used for computer braille, where one cell stands for one character, and on refreshable braille displays, whose pins are eight to a cell.
Unicode added the Braille Patterns block, U2800 to U28FF, in version 3.0 in 1999. It holds all 256 combinations of eight dots, blank included, and the code point is simple arithmetic: dot 1 adds 1, dot 2 adds 2, dot 3 adds 4, dot 4 adds 8, and so on up to dot 8, which adds 128. That is why (dots 1 and 2) is U2803 and (all eight) is U28FF. The characters are named by their dots, Braille Pattern Dots-12, not by letters, because the same cell means different things in English, French, music or maths braille.
The braille alphabet a to z, numbers and punctuation
Louis Braille laid his alphabet out in lines of ten, and the grid above follows them. Line 1, , is a to j and uses only the top four dots. Line 2 adds dot 3 to each: for k to t. Line 3 adds dots 3 and 6: for u v x y z. The letter w, , sits in line 4 because French did not use it when Braille published his system in 1829, and English braille took the French order over.
There are no separate digit cells. The number sign (dots 3, 4, 5, 6) switches a to j into 1 to 0, so is 2026. The capital sign (dot 6) goes before a capital letter, and two of them, , capitalise a whole word: is Braille. Line 5 is line 1 moved down one dot and carries most punctuation in English braille: comma, semicolon, colon, full stop, exclamation mark, question mark; is the apostrophe and the hyphen.
Everyday English braille is contracted (grade 2): on its own means but, can, you, and the rest of line 3, , stands for and, for, of, the, with. Line 4 holds ch, gh, sh, th, wh, ed, er, ou, ow. Most English-speaking countries now use Unified English Braille; the United States switched to it in 2016. To turn your own text into braille, a braille translator does the contractions for you; letter by letter, as in the combos below, is grade 1.
The braille blank and braille text tricks
Braille Pattern Blank, U2800, is a cell with no dots. It looks exactly like a space, but Unicode classes it as a symbol, not whitespace, so apps and games that trim or reject spaces usually let it through. That is why people paste to send an empty-looking message, leave a blank name or bio, or push text to the right. Some games and chat apps now filter it; the Invisible Character & Blank Text collection has the other blanks to try.
In braille art the blank matters for another reason: in many fonts an ordinary space is narrower than a braille cell, so a picture built with spaces slides out of shape. Building every empty area from keeps each line the same width.
Braille art copy and paste: eight pixels per character
Each eight-dot cell is a tiny two-by-four bitmap, so a line of 40 braille characters is 80 pixels wide and every line of text is four pixels tall. Braille art generators turn a picture into dots and pick, for every two-by-four patch, the cell whose dots match: for solid areas, and for vertical edges, and for floors and horizons, the full-minus-one cells for highlights. The same trick drives terminal tools that draw graphs in a console, and the spinning dots that many command-line programs show while they work.
Braille art needs a font where every braille cell is the same width, and it breaks when an app wraps the line or swaps the blank for a space; pasting it inside a code block on Discord or Reddit keeps it intact. Remember that screen readers may announce each cell by name, so a large braille picture is a long run of noise for a blind reader; put a short description next to it. Unicode braille on a screen is also not tactile braille: for a real label or sign, use a braille translator and an embosser or a signmaker.
How to type braille symbols
The quickest way is to tap a cell on this page and paste it. In Microsoft Word type the code, for example 2803, then press AltX. On a Mac switch to the Unicode Hex Input keyboard and hold Option while typing 2803; on Linux press CtrlShiftU, type 2803 and press Enter. In HTML write ⠃. To find any cell's code, add the dot values 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 for dots 1 to 8 to 2800 in hexadecimal.
The braille keyboards on phones, Braille Screen Input on iPhone and the TalkBack braille keyboard on Android, turn the dots you tap into ordinary letters, which is what a braille user wants; for the dot characters themselves, copy them from here.
สัญลักษณ์
256คลิกที่สัญลักษณ์เพื่อคัดลอกและเปิดหน้าของสัญลักษณ์นั้น
Most copied for braille art
The blank cell ⠀ that pastes as an invisible space, the full cell ⣿, and the eight-dot pieces text art is built from.
The braille alphabet: Louis Braille's five lines
Line 2 is line 1 plus dot 3, line 3 adds dots 3 and 6, line 4 adds dot 6, line 5 is line 1 moved down. After the number sign ⠼, a to j are the digits 1 to 0.
Capital sign, number sign and indicators
The six-dot cells outside the five lines: ⠠ capital, ⠼ number, ⠄ apostrophe, ⠤ hyphen, ⠌ ⠬ ⠜ for st, ing, ar, and the right-hand dots that start two-cell signs.
Eight-dot braille: dot 7 added
Each cell is the six-dot cell above it with dot 7 (bottom left) underneath, as in computer braille.
Eight-dot braille: dot 8 added
The same five lines with dot 8 (bottom right) underneath.
Eight-dot braille: dots 7 and 8 added
The same five lines with the whole bottom row filled; gaps are cells shown at the top of the page.
How to use them
5 situationsคลิกเพื่อคัดลอกBraille Symbols combos
13ควรรู้
- The 256 cells of the Unicode block are every possible pattern of eight dots, and the low byte of each code point is the eight dots as bits, dot 1 lowest: U28FF has all eight set.
- Louis Braille, who lost his sight after an accident in his father's harness workshop at the age of three, published his dot system in 1829 at 20. His school in Paris only adopted it officially in 1854, two years after his death.
- Braille's dots grew out of Charles Barbier's "night writing", a twelve-dot code for passing messages without light; Braille cut the cell to six dots so a single fingertip covers it.
- The letter w has no place in Braille's first three lines because French did not need it in 1829; it was placed at the end of line 4 instead.
- World Braille Day falls on 4 January, Louis Braille's birthday, and has been observed by the United Nations since 2019.
คำถามที่พบบ่อย
7How do I copy and paste braille symbols?
Tap or click any braille cell on this page to copy it, then paste with CtrlV, CmdV or long-press and Paste on a phone.
What is the braille blank character?
Braille Pattern Blank, U2800, a braille cell with no dots: . It looks like a space but is not whitespace, so it is used for blank names, empty messages and braille art backgrounds. Copy it from the top of the grid.
How do you write numbers in braille?
Put the number sign first, then the letters a to j stand for 1 to 0: is 1, is 25, is 2026. One number sign covers the whole number.
What is the braille alphabet a to z?
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z . A capital letter gets the capital sign before it.
How do I make braille art?
Use a braille art generator: it converts a picture into eight-dot cells, each covering two by four pixels. Paste the result in a code block, in a font where braille cells have equal width, and use the braille blank rather than spaces for empty areas.
Why does my braille art look broken?
The app is using a font whose braille cells or spaces have different widths, it is wrapping long lines, or it has replaced the blank cells with spaces. Paste into a code block or a monospaced field and keep lines shorter than the chat window.
Can blind people read braille copy and paste text?
On a refreshable braille display the cells appear as dots, so a short braille word can be read. Screen readers that speak, however, may read each cell out by name, so add the plain text next to braille words and a description next to braille art.
