Morse Code Symbols

Morse code covers far more than the 26 letters and 10 digits. It also has punctuation marks, procedural signals called prosigns, a set of operating abbreviations, the Q-code shorthand, and patterns for accented and non-English letters. This page is the full reference for all of it. For the plain alphabet and numbers, see the alphabet page and numbers page, and you can convert any text on the translator.

Punctuation

Punctuation marks are part of the official International Morse code standard. They are longer than most letters, usually five or six elements, because they were added after the letters and numbers had already claimed the short patterns.

The at sign is the newcomer. The ITU added @ in 2004 so operators could send email addresses, and it is the first character added to the code in decades.

Prosigns (procedural signals)

A prosign is a control signal, not a letter. It tells the receiving operator something about the message itself, like "I am starting," "go ahead," or "this contact is over." The trick that makes a prosign special is spacing. You send the two letters run together with no gap between them, so they form one symbol instead of two separate characters. Sending A then S with a normal gap is just "as," but sending them with no gap is the prosign for "wait."

You will notice some prosigns share a pattern with a punctuation mark. AR is the same dots and dashes as the plus sign, and BT is the same as the equals sign. Context is what tells them apart. The famous SOS distress signal is itself a prosign, sent as one unbroken run of three dots, three dashes, three dots.

Common abbreviations

Radio operators shortened everyday words long before texting made it normal. These are not separate Morse patterns. They are just words spelled with the standard letters, but every operator knows them on sight, which keeps a conversation fast.

Q-codes

Q-codes are three-letter codes that each stand for a whole sentence, and every one starts with Q. They were created for telegraph and radio so operators speaking different languages could still understand each other. A Q-code sent as a statement means one thing, and the same code with a question mark after it asks the question.

Accented and non-English letters

International Morse code also defines patterns for accented Latin letters used in languages like French, German, and Spanish. These are less commonly memorized but are part of the standard.

Other writing systems, such as Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, and Korean, have their own Morse mappings that connect their characters to the same dot-and-dash signals, which is how Morse code became usable well beyond English.

A note for beginners

If you are new to CW, the most common advice you will read in r/amateurradio and r/morse is not to front-load all of this. Learn the letters and numbers first, get comfortable with a few core prosigns like AR, K, and SK, and pick up abbreviations and Q-codes naturally as you have real contacts. Trying to memorize every punctuation mark and Q-code before your first exchange is the fastest way to stall. Bookmark this page as a reference and come back to it as you go.

Frequently asked questions

What are Morse code prosigns? Prosigns are procedural signals sent as two letters run together with no gap, forming one symbol. They handle message control, like AR for end of message or K for go ahead.

Does Morse code have punctuation? Yes. International Morse code includes the period, comma, question mark, and many other marks, most of them five or six elements long. The at sign was added in 2004.

What is the difference between an abbreviation and a Q-code? An abbreviation is a shortened word spelled with normal letters, like TU for thank you. A Q-code is a three-letter code starting with Q that stands for a full sentence, like QTH for "my location is."

How do I type Morse code symbols? Type the text or symbol into the translator and it returns the dots and dashes, ready to copy. You can also see everything on the full chart.

Sources

• Prosigns for Morse code, Wikipedia
• Morse code abbreviations, Wikipedia
• International Morse Code reference, Morse Code World
• Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1, International Morse code

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