What is N in Morse code?

N is -. in International Morse—2 elements occupying 5 Paris timing units at standard ratios.

How do you say N aloud when learning?

Say it as dahdi (dits and dahs), not the words “dot” and “dash,” so your ear matches on-air copy.

What letter is -. in Morse code?

The pattern -. decodes to N; reversed, the same dots and dahs spell A (.-).

What is N often confused with on copy?

Learners mix N with A (.-) and D (-..). Drill them back-to-back at one WPM before raising speed.

How long does N take at 20 WPM?

At 20 WPM one Paris unit is 60 ms, so N (5 units) lasts about 300 ms from the first dit or dah through the last element (letter space not included).

N in Morse Code

- .

Say it aloud: dahdi · NATO November · 5 timing units (~300 ms at 20 WPM)

By MorseCoder Team · Last updated: October 22, 2026

Quick answer

N is -. (dash-dot) with 2 elements. N in Morse code is -. (dash-dot). The reverse of A (.-), making up about 7% of English text.

At a glance: N

Spoken rhythm	dahdi—long then short.
Timing length	5 units (~300 ms).
English frequency rank	Rank 6.
Mirror / reverse letter	Mirror letter A (.-).
NATO phonetic	November.
Koch lesson on MorseCoder	Lesson 12 adds N.

Dot length at 20 WPM uses 1200÷WPM ms per unit — see Morse code timing & WPM.

Words starting with N

NORTH -. --- .-. - ....
NURSE -. ..- .-. ... .
NOVEL -. --- ...- . .-..
NUDGE -. ..- -.. --. .
NAVEL -. .- ...- . .-..

Timing for N

November is dah-dit across five units—the temporal inverse of A. Swapping the elements produces the wrong letter even if timing per element is perfect.

Three worked examples with N

AND → .- -. -..

N sits mid AND; dah-dit after A must stay tight.
GN → --. -.

N follows G in GN goodnight—contrast with M’s extra dah.
QTH → --.- - ....

N leads QTH; reverse of A’s contour.

Easy to confuse with A and D

Alpha opens dit-dah instead. Delta lengthens with a third element (extra dit) after the dash.

A (.-)D (-..)

Memory drill

"Na-vy" or "No" (opposite of A). Koch lesson 12 adds N; drill A/N pairs saying “long-short vs short-long.” Copy GN and AN in one sitting without charts.

How N is used on the air

N starts “name,” “NR,” “QTH,” and “GN.” Rank six in English keeps N in nearly every sentence once ragchews start. Contest exchanges use N in serials; skimmers expect N-rich call suffixes. Mirror errors with A are classic—context helps but procedural abbreviations like QTH still fail if A/N flip. Voice November clarifies after weak CW. When a station sends NAME? after a fuzzy contact, the leading N in both the question and your reply must stay dah-dit; otherwise logging software stores gibberish in the handle field.

Morse code timing diagram: a dot is 1 unit, a dash is 3 units, the gap between letters is 3 units and between words is 7 units

Sources

ITU-R M.1677-1 — International Morse timing and character set
ITU-R M.1172 — radiotelegraph abbreviations and operational signals
ARRL — Learning Morse Code
Our ITU-R M.1677-1 guide