Word · Copy · Practice
Hyphen (-) in Morse Code
Copy the Morse code for Hyphen (-), hear it played back, or open it in the translator to edit it.
Letter by letter
How "Hyphen (-)" is built in Morse
Hyphen (-) is 1 character — 4 dots and 2 dashes in all. Here is each letter with its Morse code so you can send or write it one symbol at a time:
Sending Hyphen (-) by sound or light
Hyphen (-) is 15 Morse units long, counting a 1-unit gap inside each character. At a beginner's 5 words per minute that is 3.6 seconds of signal; an experienced operator at 25 WPM sends it in 0.7 seconds.
| Speed | 5 WPM | 13 WPM | 20 WPM | 25 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to send | 3.6 s | 1.4 s | 0.9 s | 0.7 s |
Easily confused with
One dot or dash separates Hyphen (-) from each of these. They are the likeliest misreadings when copying by ear.
What the standard says
Hyphen (-) is part of International Morse code: Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1 lists -....- under the name “Hyphen or dash or subtraction sign”. It also stands for subtraction. It joins a whole number to a fraction (1 3/4 is sent 1-3/4) and a number to a % sign (2% is sent 2-0/0).
Compare every symbol on the punctuation chart.
How to read it
The format in one line
- Dot
- . one short signal (1 unit)
- Dash
- - one long signal (3 units)
- Letter gap
- a single space between letters (3 units)
- Word gap
- / with surrounding spaces (7 units)
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