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callsign

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: callsigns

A callsign is the name a pilot uses on the radio. State your callsign, the airline callsign, a military callsign.

Airlines have their own, which is often not the airline's name at all, so British Airways flights answer to Speedbird. Radio amateurs are issued one for life and it identifies them anywhere in the world.

Definitions of callsign

  1. 1nouncallsignThe name a pilot uses on the radio.C1

    “The pilot gave her callsign and asked the tower for permission to land.”

callsign is a name.

Where it comes from

Call plus sign, from radio practice, where every station is identified by a spoken sign rather than a name.

From call + sign.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Airport & Flying

Practise this word

callsign in the wild

  • Formerly known by its callsign 2NC, the NC in the callsign is short for Newcastle, while the 2 represents the state of New South Wales.

    ABC Newcastle

  • The 98.9 frequency is the third station in the San Francisco market to use the callsign KSOL.

    KSOL

  • HD210A is the callsign of a time signal radio station operated by the Navy of Ecuador.

    HD210A

  • The squadron's nickname is "Wizards" and its radio callsign is "Magic".

    VAQ-133

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.