T in Morse code
The twentieth letter of the alphabet
T in Morse code is a single dash, -, spoken dah. It is one of only two letters made of one element; the other is E, a single dot. A dash lasts three units, so at 18 WPM T sounds for 200 milliseconds. If a crossword asks for T in Morse code, the answer is DAH for three squares or DASH for four.
- (dash)
“dah”dash
1 element · 1 dash · 3 units
Hear it at your speed (WPM)
200 ms at 18 WPM
T at a glance
- Morse code
- -
- Said as
- dah
- Elements
- 1
- Length
- 3 units
- At 18 WPM
- 200 ms
- Koch order
- 10 of 41Then L
- NATO word
- Tango
- Frequency in English
- 9.1%2nd of 26
How T sounds and how to key it
T is one steady tone, three times as long as a dot and with nothing before or after it. At the site's 18 WPM a unit is 66.7 milliseconds, so the dash lasts 200 milliseconds. One held syllable is all the memory cue it needs: say TALL, or TIM, as a single long beat.
Straight key:
on the plain up-and-down lever, you press and hold for the length of three dots, then let go.
Paddles:
with paddles and an electronic keyer you touch the dash paddle once and the keyer times the dash.
Bug:
on a semi-automatic bug only the dots are made by the machine, so the dash of T is still timed by your hand.
Written down, T is a single hyphen. With a flashlight it is one flash held about three times as long as a dot flash.
Telling T from E, M and N
Turn the dash into a dot and you have E, ., the shortest letter of all. Neither has a rhythm to catch, only a length, so judge the tone against the dots around it: short is E, long is T.
T is also the opening sound of two longer letters. Add a second dash and you get M, --; add a dot and you get N, -., which is why a dash only counts as T once the letter gap arrives.
If long tones are the ones you mix up, the sound-alike drill has a set for T, M, O and 0, the characters built only from dashes. The full alphabet chart shows all four side by side.
Hear it
- E.
- M--
- N-.
Why T gets the shortest code
The code was designed so that the letters used most cost the least time to send. In English text E is the most common letter, at about 12.7%, and T comes next at about 9.1%. Those two are the only letters sent with a single element.
The saving adds up. T and E together make up more than a fifth of ordinary English letters, and each takes no more than three units to send.
T as zero, and T in the crossword
When both operators expect figures, a lone T can stand in for 0. The full zero is -----, 19 units long, so the cut form saves 16 units each time. It works only because the receiver knows a number is due, as in a contest exchange, where the signal report 599 is often sent as 5NN with N standing for 9.
Morse T is also a common crossword clue. DAH, three letters, is the spoken name of the dash, and DASH, four letters, is the name of the written mark. Count the squares before you pick.
Hear it
- 0-----
Characters to compare
Close to T in sound, so the likeliest mix-ups.
Which one did you hear?
Listen, then pick or type the one you heard.
Try T in a word
Tap T yourself
Press for a dot, hold for a dash. Space works too.
- Send
- -
- Yours
- Nothing yet
Questions about T.
What does a single dash mean in Morse code?
A single dash followed by a letter gap is T. If more elements follow before the gap, the dash is only the start of a longer letter, such as M or N. Among figures, a lone dash can also be the cut form of 0.
What does T mean in Morse code?
On its own T is just the letter, one dash with no special meaning. It turns up in operator shorthand such as TU for thank you, and in cut numbers, where it stands for 0. Thank you in Morse code shows TU and the longer forms.
How do you remember T in Morse code?
Say one long word, such as TALL, held for a single beat. There is only one element to learn. For the longer letters, the memory phrases for every letter use the same idea of stressed syllables for dashes.
What is T in the phonetic alphabet?
On voice radio T is spelled Tango, the word the phonetic spelling alphabet gives it. In Morse it stays a single dash.