Say Again Your Last, Over
The NATO phonetic alphabet — Alfa to Zulu
Twenty-six words chosen so that no two sound alike over a radio that's mostly static. Learn the alphabet, the number pronunciations civilians never hear (“fife,” “niner”), and spell anything instantly with the tool below.
The alphabet
AAlfa
AL-fah
BBravo
BRAH-voh
CCharlie
CHAR-lee
DDelta
DELL-tah
EEcho
ECK-oh
FFoxtrot
FOKS-trot
GGolf
GOLF
HHotel
hoh-TELL
IIndia
IN-dee-ah
JJuliett
JEW-lee-ETT
KKilo
KEY-loh
LLima
LEE-mah
MMike
MIKE
NNovember
no-VEM-ber
OOscar
OSS-cah
PPapa
pah-PAH
QQuebec
keh-BECK
RRomeo
ROW-me-oh
SSierra
see-AIR-rah
TTango
TANG-go
UUniform
YOU-nee-form
VVictor
VIK-tah
WWhiskey
WISS-key
XX-ray
ECKS-ray
YYankee
YANG-key
ZZulu
ZOO-loo
The numbers
Numbers go out digit by digit, and four of them get deliberately mispronounced — each one fixed a real way to die of a misheard transmission.
0ZE-ro
1WUN
2TOO
3TREE
"th" gets eaten by radio static
4FOW-er
two syllables so it can't be "for"
5FIFE
"five" blurs into "fire" — a bad word to mishear
6SIX
7SEV-en
8AIT
9NIN-er
"nine" sounds like the German "nein" and blurs into "five"
Quick answers
What is the NATO phonetic alphabet in order?
Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
Why is it spelled "Alfa" and not "Alpha"?
The ICAO spellings are deliberately phonetic so non-English speakers pronounce them correctly on first read — "Alfa" removes the "ph" ambiguity, and "Juliett" doubles the T so French speakers don't read a silent final T. Both spellings refer to the same alphabet; the misspelled versions are the official ones.
How do you say numbers over the radio?
Digit by digit, with four altered pronunciations: 3 is "tree," 4 is "fower," 5 is "fife," and 9 is "niner." The changes exist because the natural pronunciations get mangled by static or collide with other words — "five" blurs into "fire," and "nine" into the German "nein."
Why does the military use a phonetic alphabet at all?
Because B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V, and Z are indistinguishable over a bad radio, and a grid coordinate or medevac line with one wrong letter is a real problem. Assigning each letter a full word that sounds like nothing else makes spelling survivable over the worst net you've ever monitored.