Search results
The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet or simply Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used set of clear-code words for communicating the letters of the Roman alphabet.
The NATO phonetic alphabet is a Spelling Alphabet, a set of words used instead of letters in oral communication (i.e. over the phone or military radio). Each word ("code word") stands for its initial lette r (alphabetical "symbol").
Since 1956, the NATO Phonetic Alphabet has enabled forces from many countries to communicate in a way that is understood by all. Test your knowledge of the full alphabet below, then scroll down to learn more about the history of this unique system (no peeking)!
Learn about the Nato Phonetic Alphabet's history and how it was developed. See current and historic phonetic alphabets from WWI to present.
The NATO phonetic alphabet is a widely-used, standardized phonetic alphabet, where each letter in the English alphabet is replaced with a specific, specially-chosen codeword.
The NATO alphabet became effective in 1956 and, a few years later, turned into the established universal phonetic alphabet for all military, civilian and amateur radio communications. It assigns a word to each letter so that a letter's name begins with the letter itself.
The NATO phonetic alphabet is a set of code words for the letters of the Latin alphabet. They are used to spell words when people speak over the radio or telephone, when people from different countries are speaking with different accents, or in other situations where people may not clearly hear the normal names of the letters.
