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

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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

For much of the show’s run, various minor nurse characters were so interchangeable that they were repeatedly named “Able” and “Baker” — literally, “A” and “B” in an older version of the military phonetic alphabet.

From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2022

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

From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2016

Other peoples provided the Greeks with crucial technological advances; they learned the phonetic alphabet from the Phoenicians, and how to mint coins from the Lydians.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 20, 2015

Writing by means of pictures and symbols was cultivated chiefly for religious ends, and the word hieroglyph is a witness that the phonetic alphabet was discovered under the stimulus of the religious sentiment.

From The Myths of the New World A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America by Daniel Garrison Brinton

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