Y in braille
How the cell is built
A braille cell has six positions: dots 1, 2 and 3 down the left side, dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right. Y belongs to the last group, u to z, which repeat a to e with dots 3 and 6 added. Written on its own the letter is lowercase; the capital sign (dot 6) in front makes it a capital, so Y is ⠠⠽.
What Y means in contracted braille
In Grade 2 (contracted) braille, the single cell ⠽ standing alone is not the letter but the word you. To write the letter by itself, the grade 1 indicator (dots 5-6) goes in front: ⠰⠽.
Y in a word
| Grade 1 | Grade 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| yes | ⠽⠑⠎ | ⠽⠑⠎ |
| yy | ⠽⠽ | ⠽⠽ |
The word yes is 3 letters in print. In Grade 1 it is 3 cells; in Grade 2, 3.
Y in other languages
The cell for Y is the same in every language Braillify supports — French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish and Czech all use ⠽. The letters shared by the Latin alphabet keep their cells; only accented letters differ.
Where to go next
The full set of letters, punctuation and symbols is on the braille alphabet chart, the rules for numbers are on the braille numbers page, and whole words and sentences can be converted in the braille translator.