Why T matters
T is the second-most-common letter in English after E, and its morse is a single dash. In ham radio, a single 'T' is sometimes used as a cut-number alias for 0 during high-speed contest exchanges.
Memorization tip
A single dash — the longest-lasting pulse for the second-most-common letter.
Common English words starting with T
Where this letter appears in the ITU alphabet
The full A–Z chart shows every letter side-by-side so you can see the pattern of dots and dashes. For just the numbers, see morse code numbers 0–9. For a printable version, the chart page combines letters, digits, and punctuation in one layout.
The history of T
T descends from the Phoenician taw, meaning mark or sign, drawn as a simple cross or X. The Greeks took it as tau, rotating it to the cross-on-pedestal shape. Romans inherited the form essentially unchanged. T has been the second most common letter in English since at least Middle English, primarily because of the dominance of 'the' (the most frequent word in English by a wide margin), the past-tense ending '-ed', and the participle ending '-ent'.
T in CW operating
T is the second cornerstone of morse alongside E — the two shortest codes for the two most common letters. In high-speed contest CW, a single T is used as a cut-number alias for 0 (zero is normally five dashes, which is slow to send). So '599' might be sent as '5NN' (using N as a cut for 9) or 'TTT' in extreme cases. Cut numbers save real seconds when sending hundreds of contacts in a contest weekend.
What position 2 means in practice
T at position 2 with 9.1% frequency means about one T every eleven characters of running English — second only to E. The dominance of 'the' (the most frequent word in English by a wide margin), 'to', 'that', 'this', and 'they' anchors T near the top of every frequency table compiled in the past two centuries. In CW, the single-dash code is the second irreducible primitive alongside E (a single dot), and the T/E pair is the foundation of every dot/dash contrast in the international set. Cut-number aliases use T for 0 in high-speed contest exchanges, raising T's effective frequency further on contest weekends.
How to drill it
T is a single dash — about 0.6 seconds at 12 WPM. The risk is hearing it as the start of a longer letter (M, O, etc.) and waiting too long, or hearing a dash plus a stray noise as N. Lock T with E in the very first session; the dot/dash contrast is the foundation of everything else in morse.
Most-confused with: E, M, N — drill them together.
Sample copy: “The tall trees tower over the town.”
Frequently asked questions
What is the letter T in morse code?
The letter T in international morse code is "-" — a single symbol.
How do I remember the morse code for T?
A single dash — the longest-lasting pulse for the second-most-common letter.
How common is the letter T in English?
T is position 2 in English frequency, appearing in about 9.1% of running text.