No in Morse Code: -. ---

No in Morse code is -. --- (N-O). N is dash-dot, then O is three dashes, with a short gap between the two letters. That is only five signals, one dot and four dashes, which makes it one of the quickest replies you can send. At 10 WPM the whole word lasts 2.28 seconds; at 20 WPM it is over in 1.14.

Press Play above to hear it, Flash to send it with your phone light, or save it as a card, bracelet or tattoo image.

Two letters, two very different shapes. N opens with a long signal and closes with a short one; O is three long signals in a row. Between them sits a letter gap of three units, which is what stops a listener hearing one run of dashes.

A unit is one dot length under the ITU timing rules: a dash is three units, the gap inside a letter is one, the gap between letters is three, and the gap between words is seven.

Say it as dah-dit, dah-dah-dah, with a small breath between the two groups. "Dah" is the long signal and "dit" is the short one, so the word falls heavily on the long sounds: four of its five signals are dashes. Keep the pause after dah-dit noticeably longer than the tiny gap inside it, or N and O run together into a single blur.

Listen before you read it. Press Play above to hear the word at 14 WPM, where its 19 units come out to 1.63 seconds. The same 19 units run 2.28 seconds at a learner's 10 WPM and 1.14 at an operator's 20. Hear it two or three times, then say dah-dit, dah-dah-dah aloud with the audio until the rhythm feels automatic.

Light, eyes and touch use the same code as sound: a short signal is a dot and a long one is a dash. Only the medium changes, so once the rhythm is yours, every method is.

On CW (Morse radio), operators rarely spell NO at all. The published list of Morse code abbreviations gives the single letter N as "No; nine", so a ham answering a yes-or-no question may key a lone -. and move on. The same list has C for "yes; correct; affirmative" and NIL for "I have nothing to send you", which is the usual reply when there is no traffic to pass.

N is shorthand, not a prosign, and it only reads as "no" when a question came first. The same letter is the cut number for 9 in signal reports, so 5NN means readability 5, strength 9, tone 9.

Outside a radio exchange, with a friend, in a puzzle or in class, spell out -. --- (N O); nobody has to know the abbreviation list to understand it. More of these short forms are on the Morse abbreviations page.

Five signals leave little room for error, yet the word has four failure points: the gap, the dash length, an extra dash after N and the letter N on its own. A Morse decoder will show you which one you hit.

People usually learn no together with its two opposites, and the lengths are not what you would expect from the English words.

No is the shortest of the three spelled-out replies, and only the one-letter C beats it. Yes in Morse code is three letters and eight signals, which is why operators shorten it, while OK is two letters but five dashes long. Shorthand saves under a second, so outside a radio exchange it is not worth the risk of being misread; spell every reply out for a friend or a puzzle.

Any phrase that starts with no keeps the same first five signals, then adds a word gap, written as a slash, before the next word.

Type any of these into the text to Morse translator to hear them; the word gap of seven units is what separates "no way" from a run of letters.

No is a reply, not an opening. On the air it follows a question or a request; in a classroom or practice session it is often the first full word a learner copies by ear, because two letters with opposite shapes train rhythm without much memorizing. People also flash it across a dark yard, blink it in a game, tap it through a wall and hide it in puzzle and escape-room clues.

It is not a distress or procedural signal. Unlike SOS, which has a fixed meaning everywhere, NO is an ordinary word whose meaning depends on what was asked, so pair it with the question or send a fuller reply when the context is unclear. People who use Morse through assistive switches rely on short words like this one for exactly that reason: two letters, five signals, one clear answer.