Brailled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A tactile communication system utilizes raised dots arranged in patterns to represent letters and words for those with visual impairments
2. This method converts standard text into a series of small bumps that can be read by touch, assisting individuals with sight loss
3. A system of reading and writing employs raised dots to enable individuals with visual impairments to interpret letters and communicate effectively

Etymology: "Brailled" is the past tense and past participle of "braille," the verb meaning to print or write in the raised-dot system. That system is named after Louis Braille, a French educator who lived from 1809 to 1852 and who developed it. The word reached English as a borrowing from French, where the name is pronounced with a sound closer to "eye" than to the English "ale" that most speakers use today. The English pronunciation with a long "ay" sound seems to be a spelling pronunciation, a reading of the letters that displaced the original French vowel. So a word tied to touch carries a name that most English speakers have never heard pronounced the way its namesake said it.

Synonyms: transcribed, encoded