Braille

American  

[breyl] / breɪl /

Also braille

noun

1. Louis 1809–52, French teacher of the blind.

2. a system of writing or printing, devised by L. Braille for use by the blind, in which combinations of tangible dots or points are used to represent letters, characters, etc., that are read by touch.

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verb (used with object)

• Brailles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• Brailled,
  past participle,  past
• Brailling
  present participle

1. to write or transliterate in Braille characters.

Braille ¹ British  

/ breɪl /

noun

1. a system of writing for the blind consisting of raised dots that can be interpreted by touch, each dot or group of dots representing a letter, numeral, or punctuation mark

2. any writing produced by this method Compare Moon

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verb

1. (tr) to print or write using this method

Braille ² British  

/ braj /

noun

1. Louis (lwi). 1809–52, French inventor, musician, and teacher of the blind, who himself was blind from the age of three and who devised the Braille system of raised writing

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Braille Cultural  

1. A system of writing and printing for the blind in which arrangements of raised dots representing letters and numbers can be identified by touch.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• Brailling
  present
• Brailled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• Braille
  simple
• Brailles
  simple
• have Brailled
  perfect
• has Brailled
  perfect
• am Brailling
  progressive
• are Brailling
  progressive
• is Brailling
  progressive
• have been Brailling
  perfect progressive
• has been Brailling
  perfect progressive

Past

• Brailled
  simple
• had Brailled
  perfect
• was Brailling
  progressive
• were Brailling
  progressive
• had been Brailling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will Braille
  simple
• will have Brailled
  perfect
• will be Brailling
  progressive
• will have been Brailling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of Braille

First recorded in 1850–55

Explanation

The raised printing that can be felt with the fingers and read that way by people who are blind or visually impaired is called braille. Braille appears as a system of embossed dots, a tactile language that can be learned by those with limited vision. Books, articles, and letters can all be transcribed into braille by hand or with the help of a braille typewriter. You might see braille printed on elevator buttons, apartment numbers, and in other public places. The writing system gets its name from its inventor, Louis Braille, who developed it at the age of 15.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Braille Brailles

Her lobbying on equal access for disabled children led to the final Harry Potter book being released in Braille on the same day as the print version.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025

Away from the arts he spent than a decade volunteering at the Braille Institute where, during his playing days, he spent time reading to blind men and women.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025

For 12, he taught at the Braille Institute.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025

And on the box she comes in, Barbie will be spelled in Braille, which is language made of raised dots that blind people can feel to read things.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2024

She has read Around the World in Eighty Days until the Braille is soft and fraying; for this year’s birthday, her father has bought her an even fatter book: Dumas’s The Three Musketeers.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

The young man was Olivier Chandon de Brailles, the heir to Moët & Chandon.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 16, 2019