braille

See also: Braille and braillé

English

ATM keypad with braille

Alternative forms

• Braille

Etymology

Borrowed from French braille, named after French educator Louis Braille (1809–1852). The /eɪl/ seems to reflect a spelling pronunciation; French has /aj/ instead.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaɪ/ (approximating French pronunciation; uncommon)
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

braille (countable and uncountable, plural brailles)

1. A system of writing in which letters and some combinations of letters are represented by raised dots arranged in three or four rows of two dots each and are read by the blind and partially sighted using the fingertips.
   • 1963, S. C. Ashcroft, Freda Henderson, Programmed Instruction in Braille, Stanwix House, →ISBN, page 6:

     Another difficulty which causes literature in braille to remain scarce is the cumbersomeness of the process of producing braille books.

Usage notes

The Braille Authority of North America recommends using lower-case braille for the script, and reserving capital Braille for the man. However, the script is commonly capitalized as well. In British English, the capitalised form Braille is preferred.

Derived terms

• Bharati braille
• braille block
• brailler
• braillewriter
• braillist
• nonbraille

Translations

system of writing using raised dots

• Catalan: braille (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盲文 (zh) (mángwén), 點字 / 点字 (zh) (diǎnzì), 盲字 (zh) (mángzì)

• Danish: punktskrift c
• Dutch: braille (nl) n
• Esperanto: Brajlo
• Finnish: pistekirjoitus (fi)
• French: braille (fr) m, Braille (fr) m
• Georgian: ბრაილის შრიფტი (brailis šripṭi), ბრაილი (braili)
• German: Brailleschrift (de) f, Blindenschrift (de) f
• Greek: κώδικας Μπράιγ m (kódikas Bráig)
• Hebrew: כתב בריל (he) m (ktav brail)
• Icelandic: blindraletur (is) n
• Irish: braille m, scríbhneoireacht bhraille f
• Italian: braille m
• Japanese: 点字 (ja) (てんじ, tenji), ブライユ点字 (ブライユてんじ, Buraiyu tenji)
• Korean: 점자(點字) (jeomja)
• Maori: tuhi matapō
• Norwegian: blindeskrift (no) m
• Portuguese: braile (pt) m, braille (pt) m
• Russian: а́збука Бра́йля f (ázbuka Brájlja), систе́ма Бра́йля f (sistéma Brájlja), брайль m (brajlʹ)
• Spanish: braille m
• Swedish: Brailleskrift, punktskrift
• Telugu: బ్రెయిలీ (breyilī)
• Vietnamese: chữ nổi (vi)
• Volapük: bleinanatonatem (vo)

Verb

braille (third-person singular simple present brailles, present participle brailling, simple past and past participle brailled)

1. To write in, or convert into, the braille writing system.

   I played back my recorded notes and brailled them.

   • 1967, Carlton Fredericks, Federal Trade Commission Decisions, volume 71, page 237:

     the sponsorship statement on respondent's brailled volumes [...] He admittedly had no knowledge of just how respondent's book [...] came to be brailled

2. (informal, by extension) to identify something by touch.

Translations

to write in braille

• Finnish: kirjoittaa pistekirjoituksella

to identify by touch

• Finnish: tunnistaa tunnustelemalla

Adjective

braille (not comparable)

1. Of, relating to or written in braille.

Further reading

• braille on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Briella, Liberal, liberal

Dutch

Alternative forms

• Braille (unofficial)

Etymology

Borrowed from French braille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbraːi̯ə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: brail‧le

Noun

braille n (uncountable)

1. braille

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁaj/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Named after French educator Louis Braille (1809–1852).

Noun

braille m (plural brailles)

1. braille
   • 2004, “Catalogue”, in Bâtards Sensibles, performed by TTC:

     Tu nous sens venir / Ou tu veux qu'on te parle en braille ?

     Do you feel us coming / Or do you want us to speak to you in braille?

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

braille

1. inflection of brailler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “braille”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• bâiller, libéral

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English braille.

Noun

braille m (genitive singular braille)

1. braille

   Synonym: scríbhneoireacht bhraille

Declension

Declension of braille (fourth declension, no plural)

bare forms singular nominative braille vocative a bhraille genitive braille dative braille forms with the definite article singular nominative an braille genitive an bhraille dative leis an mbraille don bhraille

Derived terms

• cló bhraille m (“braille type”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of braille

radical	lenition	eclipsis
braille	bhraille	mbraille

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “braille”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “braille”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “braille”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025
• “braille”, in The National Terminology Database for Irish, Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU and Foras na Gaeilge, 2006–2025

Middle English

Noun

braille

1. alternative form of brayle

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• braile (nonstandard)

Etymology

Borrowed from French braille, named after French educator Louis Braille (1809–1852).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾaj.li/ [ˈbɾaɪ̯.li]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾaj.li/ [ˈbɾaɪ̯.li]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾaj.le/ [ˈbɾaɪ̯.le]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾaj.lɨ/

• Rhymes: -ajli, -ajlɨ
• Hyphenation: brail‧le

Noun

braille m (plural brailles)

1. braille (system of writing using raised dots)

Usage notes

Тhis word’s standard spelling utilizes doubled ⟨ll⟩ because it is derived from a foreign given name. For the same reason, the spelling with a single ⟨l⟩ is nonstandard.

Further reading

• “braille”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “braille”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “braille”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “braille”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025

Spanish

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾaile/ [ˈbɾai̯.le], /ˈbɾaiʝe/ [ˈbɾai̯.ʝe]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain and Latin America) /ˈbɾaile/ [ˈbɾai̯.le], /ˈbɾaiʝe/ [ˈbɾai̯.ʝe]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines) /ˈbɾaile/ [ˈbɾai̯.le], /ˈbɾaiʎe/ [ˈbɾai̯.ʎe]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈbɾaile/ [ˈbɾai̯.le], /ˈbɾaiʃe/ [ˈbɾai̯.ʃe]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈbɾaile/ [ˈbɾai̯.le], /ˈbɾaiʒe/ [ˈbɾai̯.ʒe]

 

• Rhymes: -aile, -aiʝe

• Rhymes: -aile, -aiʝe
• Rhymes: -aile, -aiʎe
• Rhymes: -aile, -aiʃe
• Rhymes: -aile, -aiʒe

• Syllabification: brai‧lle

Noun

braille m (uncountable)

1. braille

Further reading

• “braille”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• “braille, en minúscula, con elle y en redonda”, in Fundéu (in Spanish), 2020 January 2, retrieved 26 January 2024