Morse Code Alphabet
Morse Code Alphabet, depicted in a comprehensive Morse code chart/table, encompasses a standardized set of symbols representing letters, numerals
The Morse code encompasses a wide variety of different characters - more than just the letters of the alphabet and numbers between 0 and 9.
In this way it has a great amount of flexibility, and enables messages of all types to be sent and received.
International Morse code is composed of five elements
- short mark, dot or dit: "dit duration" is one time unit long
- long mark, dash or dah: three time units long
- inter-element gap between the dits and dahs within a character: one dot duration or one unit long
- short gap (between letters): three time units long
- medium gap (between words): seven time units long(formerly five)
Morse code alphabet
Below are listed Morse Code plus a few phonetic alphabets. The NATO Phonetic Alphabet is the most common, but the others are used in other areas
| Letter | Morse | dashes-dots | NATO | English | American | Italian | German | International |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | .- | 1 dots, 1 dashes | Alpha | Andrew | Able | Ancona | Anton | Amsterdam |
| B | -... | 1 dashes, 3 dots | Bravo | Benjamin | Baker | Bologna | Berta | Baltimore |
| C | -.-. | 1 dashes, 1 dots, 1 dashes, 1 dots | Charlie | Charlie | Charlie | Como | Casar | Casablanca |
| D | -.. | 1 dashes, 2 dots | Delta | David | Dog | Domodossola | Dora | Denmark |
| E | . | 1 dots | Echo | Edward | Easy | Empoli | Emil | Edision |
| F | ..-. | 2 dots, 1 dashes, 1 dots | Foxtrot | Fredrick | Fox | Firenze | Friedrich | Florida |
| G | --. | 2 dashes, 1 dots | Golf | George | George | Genova | Gustav | Gallipoli |
| H | .... | 4 dots | Hotel | Harry | How | Hotel | Heinrich | Havana |
| I | .. | 2 dots | India | Isaac | Item | Imola | Ida | Italy |
| J | .--- | 1 dots, 3 dashes | Juliett | Jack | Jig | I lunga | Julius | Jerusalem |
| K | -.- | 1 dashes, 1 dots, 1 dashes | Kilo | King | King | Kursaal | Kaufmann | Kilogram |
| L | .-.. | 1 dots, 1 dashes, 2 dots | Lima | Lucy | Love | Livorno | Ludwig | Liverpool |
| M | -- | 2 dashes | Mike | Mary | Mike | Milano | Martha | Madagascar |
| N | -. | 1 dashes, 1 dots | November | Nelli | Nan | Napoli | Nordpol | New York |
| O | --- | 3 dashes | Oscar | Oliver | Oboe | Otranto | Otto | Oslo |
| P | .--. | 1 dots, 2 dashes, 1 dots | Papa | Peter | Peter | Padova | Paula | Paris |
| Q | --.- | 2 dashes, 1 dots, 1 dashes | Quebec | Queenie | Queen | Quarto | Quelle | Quebec |
| R | .-. | 1 dots, 1 dashes, 1 dots | Romeo | Robert | Roger | Roma | Richard | Roma |
| S | ... | 3 dots | Sierra | Sugar | Sugar | Savona | Samuel | Santiago |
| T | - | 1 dashes | Tango | Tommy | Tare | Torino | Theodor | Tripoli |
| U | ..- | 2 dots, 1 dashes | Uniform | Uncle | Uncle | Udine | Ulrich | Uppsala |
| V | ...- | 3 dots, 1 dashes | Victor | Victor | Victor | Venezia | Viktor | Valencia |
| W | .-- | 1 dots, 2 dashes | Whiskey | William | William | Washington | Wilhelm | Washington |
| X | -..- | 1 dashes, 2 dots, 1 dashes | X-Ray | Xylophone | X-ray | Xilofono | Xanthippe | Xanthippe |
| Y | -.-- | 1 dashes, 1 dots, 2 dashes | Yankee | Yellow | Yoke | York | Ypsilon | Yokohama |
| Z | --.. | 2 dashes, 2 dots | Zulu | Zebra | Zebra | Zara | Zacharias | Zurich |
In Morse Code there also exist codes for Numbers
| Number | Morse Code | long-short | dashes-dots | NATO | Pronunciation | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ----- | 5 long | 5 dashes | Zero | ZE-RO | dash dash dash dash dash |
| 1 | .---- | 1 short, 4 long | 1 dots, 4 dashes | One | WUN | dot dash dash dash dash |
| 2 | ..--- | 2 short, 3 long | 2 dots, 3 dashes | Two | TOO | dot dot dash dash dash |
| 3 | ...-- | 3 short, 2 long | 3 dots, 2 dashes | Three | TREE | dot dot dot dash dash |
| 4 | ....- | 4 short, 1 long | 4 dots, 1 dashes | Four | FOW-er | dot dot dot dot dash |
| 5 | ..... | 5 short | 5 dots | Five | FIFE | dot dot dot dot dot |
| 6 | -.... | 1 long, 4 short | 1 dashes, 4 dots | Six | SIX | dash dot dot dot dot |
| 7 | --... | 2 long, 3 short | 2 dashes, 3 dots | Seven | SEV-en | dash dash dot dot dot |
| 8 | ---.. | 3 long, 2 short | 3 dashes, 2 dots | Eight | AIT | dash dash dash dot dot |
| 9 | ----. | 4 long, 1 short | 4 dashes, 1 dots | Nine | NIN-er | dash dash dash dash dot |
What is the Morse Code?
There is no distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. The Morse code alphabet encodes each letter, number, and some punctuation marks as specific sequences of short (dots) and long (dashes) signals. Originally developed in the 1830s by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, Morse code enabled long-distance communication, especially in maritime and military contexts.