⠁

See also: 1, a, •, ⠂, and ⠄

⠁	U+2801, ⠁ BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1

← ⠀
[U+2800]

Braille Patterns

⠂ →
[U+2802]

Translingual

A character of the braille script, standardized internationally as the letter a and the digit 1.

Etymology

More information

Invented by Louis Braille, braille cells were arranged in numerical order and assigned to the letters of the French alphabet. Most braille alphabets follow this assignment for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet or, in non-Latin scripts, for the transliterations of those letters. In such alphabets, the first ten braille letters (the first decade: ⠁⠃⠉⠙⠑⠋⠛⠓⠊⠚) are assigned to the Latin letters A to J and to the digits 1 to 9 and 0. (Apart from '2', the even digits all have three dots: ⠃⠙⠋⠓⠚.)

The letters of the first decade are those cells with at least one dot in the top row and at least one in the left column, but none in the bottom row. The next decade repeat the pattern with the addition of a dot at the lower left, the third decade with two dots in the bottom row, and the fourth with a dot on the bottom right. The fifth decade is like the first, but shifted downward one row. The first decade is supplemented by the two characters with dots in the right column and none in the bottom row, and that supplement is propagated to the other decades using the generation rules above. Finally, there are four characters with no dots in the top two rows. Many languages that use braille letters beyond the 26 of the basic Latin alphabet follow an approximation of the English or French values for additional letters.

Letter

⠁

(international braille) a

Non-Latin transliteration

(Greek Braille) α (a)
(Yugoslav Braille) a ~ а
(Russian Braille) а (a)
(Hebrew Braille) the letter aleph, א
(Arabic Braille) the letter alif, ا (ʾ)
(Ethiopic Braille) -a
(Bharati Braille) अ (a)
As in print, this is only written when it is initial in a syllable.
(Tibetan Braille) ཨ (a)
(Thai Braille) ◌ะ (a)
As in print, this is combined with many other vowels to indicate they are short.
(Cantonese Braille) Tone 2

Numeral

⠁

(in the context of the number sign ⠼) The digit 1.
(Ethiopic Braille, in the context of the number signs ⠁...⠆) The Ethiopic digit ፩ 1, ⠁⠁⠆.

Symbol

⠁

(music, fingering) first finger
(Ethiopic Braille) opening digit indicator: cf. closing ⠆.

English

Letter

⠁ (a)

Renders the print letter a, including the independent word a.

Usage notes

Sources disagree on whether to treat this as a word sign or simply as the letter ⟨⠁⟩. It makes only a pedagogical difference, but even if a word sign it does not stand for an.
When one word spelled entirely as one of the letter sequences a, and, for, of, the, with follows another, no space is left between them: and the, for a, with the, of a are all fused together.

Numeral

⠁ (1)

(in the context of the number sign ⠼) The digit 1

French

Letter

⠁ (a)

The letter a, including the independent word a.

Japanese

Syllable

⠁ (romaji a)

The hiragana syllable あ (a) or the katakana syllable ア (a) in Japanese braille.

Korean

Letter

⠁ • (-g)

Syllable-final ㄱ (g).

Coordinate terms

Syllable-initial ⠈.

Luxembourgish

Letter

⠁ (a) (upper case ⡁)

The lower-case letter a.

Mandarin

Letter

⠁

(Mainland Braille) Tone 1
(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (Taiwan Braille) Tone 0, onset zh
(Two-Cell Braille) The onset g- or the rime -èn (-ìn, -ùn, -ǜn)

Braille script navigation

⠀ ⠁ ⠂ ⠄ ⠈ ⠐ ⠠

⠃ ⠅ ⠆ ⠘ ⠨ ⠰ ⠉ ⠒ ⠤ ⠑ ⠡ ⠢ ⠊ ⠌ ⠔

⠇ ⠸ ⠪ ⠕ ⠣ ⠜ ⠎ ⠱ ⠋ ⠍ ⠖ ⠙ ⠩ ⠲ ⠓ ⠥ ⠦ ⠚ ⠬ ⠴

⠏ ⠹ ⠧ ⠼ ⠫ ⠝ ⠮ ⠵ ⠺ ⠗ ⠞ ⠳ ⠛ ⠭ ⠶

⠟ ⠻ ⠷ ⠾ ⠯ ⠽ ⠿

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠁⟩: ⡁ ⢁ ⣁