Braille Alphabet

Grade 1 (English) braille, letter by letter

This table covers Grade 1 (uncontracted) English/international braille: the 26 letters A-Z and the 10 digits, all built from the standard 6-dot cell (2 columns by 3 rows, numbered 1-2-3 on the left column and 4-5-6 on the right). The first ten letters (a-j) use only the four upper dots (1, 2, 4, 5); the next ten (k-t) repeat that pattern with dot 3 added; and the last set (u-z, except w) repeats it again with dot 6 added. Digits don't get their own cell shape: they reuse the a-j letter patterns, preceded by a number sign (dots 3-4-5-6) that marks them as digits instead of letters. Every cell below is shown both as a real Unicode character from the Braille Patterns block (U+2800-U+28FF), copyable as plain text, and as a visual dot diagram. This tool covers Grade 1 English braille only; it is not the same system used for Portuguese braille (which has its own cells for accented letters) or Grade 2 (contracted) braille, which uses abbreviations to save space.

Browse the table or translate your own text

1. Type into the "Your text in braille" box to see a live, cell-by-cell translation.
2. Use search or the group filters to find a letter, digit or the number sign in the table.
3. Select a row to see its Unicode character, dot diagram, and copy either representation.

Use this tool on your site

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Sources and references for this tool

These references help contextualize formulas, standards, APIs and limitations used on this page. They do not replace professional validation when a result has legal, financial, medical or operational impact.

• Braille BasicsBraille Authority of North America (BANA), Official source for the cell numbering and the alphabet's derivation rule.
• Unicode Standard, Braille Patterns blockUnicode Consortium, Basis for the codepoint-from-dot-pattern mapping.
• English BrailleWikipedia, Confirms the capital sign and the number-sign convention.

Frequently asked questions

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