É in Morse code

Yes. ITU-R M.1677-1, the International Morse code standard, defines the 26 letters A to Z and one accented letter, É, as ..-.., five elements long. Any trained operator should copy it, whatever their language.

A plain E, ., is fine when the word reads clearly without the accent, though in French the accent can change what a word means. Every other accented letter is a national extension; see the full set for which ones operators in each language use.

ITU-R M.1677-1 lists it as “accented e”, the only accented letter in the standard, so its code is the same in every country.

French writes it most, and Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian spell words with it too. Older French tables sometimes used the same signal for È and Ê as well.

National tables reuse spare signals, so ..-.. is also Ę (Polish). Each table was made for one language, so the letters never clash at home: read the signal in the language of the message.

Decoders have to pick one letter. The Morse code to English decoder on this site reads the signal as É, whichever letter was meant.

É takes 11 units, 733 ms at 18 WPM; a plain E takes one unit. In names and in French, keep the accent. In English text, or when speed matters more than spelling, a plain E is shorter and every station reads it.

• Hear it:

  at 18 WPM one unit lasts 66.7 ms, so É takes 733 ms (11 units). Press Play above, slow it to 5 WPM to pick out each element, or turn on Repeat.

• Tap it:

  a short tap for each dot and a press three times as long for each dash, with a dot’s pause between them: short, short, long, short, short.

• Flash it:

  light on for each element, off between them, no faster than 7 WPM. There a unit is 171 ms and É takes 1.9 seconds; the Flashlight signaler keeps that pace.

• Write it:

  ..-.. as one group, with a space on each side so it does not run into the next letter.

• It is F with one more dot on the end.
• It reads the same forwards and backwards.
• Hungarian learners say “ez az é jele” (“this is the sign of é”): each syllable with a long vowel is a dash and the others are dots.
• Learn the sound, not the picture: say di-di-dah-di-dit until you hear it as one shape.

• CAFÉ is -.-. .- ..-. ..-.., four letters and 45 units long (3.0 seconds at 18 WPM).
• JOSÉ is .--- --- ... ..-.., four letters and 49 units long (3.3 seconds at 18 WPM).

To hear a whole word or sentence, type it into the Morse code translator. The standard letters are all on the alphabet chart, and the other national letters are with the rest of the accented letters.