phonetic alphabet

American  

noun

1. an alphabet containing a separate character for each distinguishable speech sound.

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phonetic alphabet British  

noun

1. a list of the words used in communications to represent the letters of the alphabet, as in E for Echo, T for Tango

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Etymology

Origin of phonetic alphabet

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

They say they have found four basic components they think make up this phonetic alphabet.

From Seattle Times • May 7, 2024

I would watch the night’s TV, phone my copy in at midnight and the copy-taker, enraged by my version of the phonetic alphabet, would say: “Is there much more of this stuff?”

From The Guardian • Mar. 3, 2019

The phrase comes from the military phonetic alphabet; it is not slang.

From Washington Post • Mar. 18, 2016

But Denise Sabet, the vice general manager at Labbrand, suggests the reasons include cultural differences and the Chinese reliance on characters for words, rather than a phonetic alphabet.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2011

The phonetic alphabet of Cadmus, though so vastly superior to any system of symbolical hieroglyphics, for all purposes where any thing like verbal accuracy was desired, was still very slow in coming into general use.

From Romulus Makers of History by Abbott, Jacob