Close bracket in Morse code
Written “)”, in the ITU standard
The close bracket, or right parenthesis, is -.--.- in Morse code, said dah-di-dah-dah-di-dah. It sounds like the letter K sent twice with no gap between. It is the open bracket with one more dash, and at 19 units it ties with the comma and the apostrophe as the longest mark in the ITU standard.
-.--.- (dash dot dash dash dot dash)
“dah-di-dah-dah-di-dah”dash dot dash dash dot dash
6 elements · 2 dots, 4 dashes · 19 units
Hear it at your speed (WPM)
1267 ms at 18 WPM
The close bracket at a glance
- Morse code
- -.--.-
- Said as
- dah-di-dah-dah-di-dah
- Elements
- 6
- Length
- 19 units
- At 18 WPM
- 1267 ms
- ITU standard
- Yes
- Sounds like
- KKLetters run together
- Also called
- Right parenthesis
The right-hand bracket in the ITU list
ITU-R M.1677-1 names this signal the right-hand bracket (parenthesis). It closes what the open bracket, -.--., opened, and the final dash is the only difference between them. Lose that dash in a noisy signal and a close bracket is copied as an open one.
The open bracket doubles as the KN prosign on the air. The close bracket has no second job: it is only ever punctuation.
Hear it
- (-.--.
Worked example: (OK) taken apart
Here is (OK), the word in this page's practice box, character by character at 18 WPM, where one unit lasts 66.7 ms:
- Open bracket,
-.--., 15 units - The letter O,
---, 11 units - The letter K,
-.-, 9 units - Close bracket,
-.--.-, 19 units
Add three letter gaps of 3 units each and the group -.--. --- -.- -.--.- comes to 63 units, about 4.2 seconds. The two brackets take 34 of those units, more than the word inside them.
Hear it
- (-.--.
- O---
- K-.-
KK: hearing and remembering it
Split it after the third element and you hear K twice, -.- and -.-, with the gap squeezed out. That makes an easy pair to remember: the open bracket is KN, the close bracket is KK.
Sent with a normal letter gap, -.- -.- is simply the letter K twice. Only the run-together timing, about 1.27 seconds for the whole signal at 18 WPM, makes it a bracket.
Hear it
- K-.-
- KK-.- -.-
Its nearest neighbors
- Swap every dash for a dot and every dot for a dash and you get
.-..-., the quotation mark. - The unofficial underscore,
..--.-, opens on a dot where the close bracket opens on a dash. - The comma,
--..--, is just as long, with four dashes and two dots in a different order.
Hear it
- ".-..-.
- _..--.-
- ,--..--
Characters to compare
Close to the close bracket in sound, so the likeliest mix-ups.
- Close bracket minus its last dash: Open bracket, dash dot dash dash dot
- Close bracket with dots and dashes swapped: Quotation mark, dot dash dot dot dash dot
- Close bracket with its 1st dash as a dot: Underscore, dot dot dash dash dot dash
Which one did you hear?
Listen, then pick or type the one you heard.
Try the close bracket in a word
Tap the close bracket yourself
Press for a dot, hold for a dash. Space works too.
- Send
- -.--.-
- Yours
- Nothing yet
Questions about Close bracket.
Can the close bracket be used for both brackets?
Many operators do. K3WWP's punctuation list notes that the close-bracket signal is often sent for opening and closing round brackets, and for square brackets too. The ITU standard keeps a separate, shorter signal for the open bracket.
How do I leave a space in Morse code?
With silence. ITU-R M.1677-1 sets the gap inside a character at 1 unit, between letters at 3 units and between words at 7. Written down, a space separates letters and a slash separates words, as in -.-- . ... / -. --- for YES NO.
What is the Morse code for end of message?
End of message is AR, .-.-., sent as one signal. It is the same signal as the plus sign, which the ITU calls the cross signal and puts at the end of every telegram.
Is there a Morse code for punctuation?
Yes. ITU-R M.1677-1 defines signals for the period, comma, colon, question mark, apostrophe, hyphen, slash, both brackets, quotation marks, the equals and plus signs and @. The punctuation chart lists them all, with the common unofficial marks.