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

See Examples For:

phonetic alphabet

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

Some nation, probably the Phoenicians, gave a new impetus to the art of writing by developing a phonetic alphabet; but this achievement, remarkable as it was in itself, added nothing fundamental to human capacity.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 4 "Cincinnatus" to "Cleruchy" by Various