Skip to main content

Navajo Code Talkers

WWII Type One code that maps each English letter to one or more Navajo words.

During World War II the United States Marine Corps recruited Navajo code talkers to transmit messages in a code built on the Navajo language. The Type One code spelled out words letter by letter, where each English letter was spoken as a Navajo word whose English meaning begins with that letter (for example A is "Wol-La-Chee", meaning Ant). Several letters had more than one approved word so that repeated letters would not sound the same on the radio. This tool uses the primary word for each letter when encoding, and accepts any of the known variants when decoding.

Navajo code talkers alphabet reference