Sister in Morse Code

Sister in Morse code is ... .. ... - . .-. (S-I-S-T-E-R). It has six letters, 13 signals, and only two of them dashes. That light, dot-heavy shape is why the word works as a string bracelet, a fine-line tattoo and a quick tapped message. Press Play above to hear it, then use what follows: the bead list with pattern lengths, a stencil check for five common spacing mistakes, and the code for "sis" and "sisters". At the page's default 14 WPM the word lasts 3.34 seconds; at 10 WPM it stretches to 4.68.

Read the word from left to right, one letter at a time — S ..., I .., S ..., T -, E . and finally R .-. — giving every dot one unit of sound and every dash three, with three silent units between letters. Because "sister" is a single word there is no seven-unit word gap, so the written form needs spaces only, never a slash.

Tapping it on a table, keep the three-dot runs even and leave a clear beat before the lone dash of T. That dash is the only long signal until the R, so it is the landmark a listener waits for. The whole word adds up to 39 units, which is where the timings above come from.

A sister bracelet takes 18 code beads: 11 round dot beads, 2 long dash beads and 5 small spacers between the letters. The table lists them in stringing order, left to right.

With 6 mm beads the pattern runs 4.49 in (114 mm) and leaves about 1.3 in of cord on each side of a 7 in wrist. At 4 mm it shrinks to 2.99 in; 8 mm beads stretch it to 5.98 in, which leaves half an inch per side. The bead calculator in "Make it yours" above recalculates when you change the size, and the bracelet generator previews the layout for any extra word.

Making a matching pair? String both strands before tying either one, then lay them side by side and compare bead for bead.

Shop bracelets and necklaces mark a dash in one of two ways, and the convention decides how you count.

In the two-bead style the sister pattern uses 15 color beads, in the long-bead style 13, so a piece that looks wrong may simply follow the other convention. Count the dashes both ways before deciding a gift is misspelled, then paste the pattern, as dots and dashes with a space between letters, into the decoder and confirm it returns SISTER.

For a sister tattoo the usual error is not a wrong letter; it is a gap that closes when the design is scaled down. Five checks on the stencil catch the common misreadings:

• S I S run together. ... .. ... becomes a line of eight dots that no reader can split back into three letters.
• S and T touching. ... - reads as ...-, which is V.
• S and T touching. ... - reads as ...-, which is V.
• T and E touching. - . reads as -., which is N.
• E and R touching. . .-. reads as ..-., which is F, so the ending reads TF instead of TER.
• Mirror image. A reversed transfer reads .-. . - ... .. ..., which spells RETSIS.

Matching tattoos should come from one shared file so both sisters hand the artist identical spacing. The tattoo generator exports that file as PNG or SVG, and the Tattoo button in "Make it yours" above shows the fine-line layout first.

"Sis" in Morse code is ... .. ... — the first three letters of the full word, eight dots in three groups with two letter gaps. "Sisters" adds one more S at the end, ... .. ... - . .-. ..., for 14 dots and 2 dashes. For a bracelet that carries a name, keep "sister" as one word, insert a word ring (the slash in written code), then spell the name; the translator gives the name's code and the generator counts its beads.

A brother-and-sister set pairs this word with brother, -... .-. --- - .... . .-., which has 12 dots and 7 dashes. The two patterns look clearly different on the wrist, which is the point of a matching set.