Definify.com

Definition 2024

⠵

⠵	U+2835, ⠵ BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1356

← ⠴
[U+2834]

Braille Patterns

⠶ →
[U+2836]

See also: z

Translingual

The 25th character of the braille script, standardized internationally as the letter z

Letter

⠵

(Braille) z
(Braille, in the context of the capital sign ⠠) Upper-case Z
(Greek Braille) ζ (z)
(Yugoslav Braille) z / з
(Russian Braille) з (z)
(Hebrew Braille) ז ‎(z)
(Arabic Braille) ز (z)
(Amharic Braille) ዘ (z)
(Bharati braille) za
(Tibetan Braille) ཚ (tsha)
(Chinese Braille) The onset z
(Chinese Two-Cell Braille) The onset qu- or the rime -ěng (-ǐng, -ǒng)
(Taiwan Braille) The rime eng
(Cantonese Braille) The rime ut
(Vietnamese Braille) d (pronounced z)
(Thai Braille) The vowel ำ am

Usage notes

This letter is used for ⟨z⟩ in most languages which use the Latin script in print. However, Hungarian is an exception: See ⠣.

Contraction

⠵ ‎(transliteration needed)

(English Braille) as

Logogram

⠵ ‎(transliteration needed)

(Chinese Two-Cell Braille) 我 wǒ

Japanese

Syllable

⠵ ‎(romaji ma)

The hiragana syllable ま ‎(ma) or the katakana syllable マ ‎(ma) in Japanese braille.

Etymology

Invented by Louis Braille, braille cells were arranged in numerical order and assigned to letters of the French alphabet. Most braille alphabets follow this assignment for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet, or for the equivalents of those letters in a non-Latin script.

The first ten braille letters are ⠁⠃⠉⠙⠑⠋⠛⠓⠊⠚, usually assigned to the Latin letters a–j. The next ten repeat that pattern with the addition of a dot at the lower left, the third ten with two dots on the bottom, and the fourth with a dot on the bottom right. The fifth decade is like the first, but shifted downward. Many languages which use braille letters beyond the basic 26 for simple letters in their script follow an approximation of the English values for the additional letters.