cipher

[ sahy-fer ]

noun

1. a secret method of writing or recording data, such as by substituting or adding letters or numbers, using specially formed symbols, or the like; code: cryptography.

   The spies exchanged messages using a complex cipher.

   The encryption software creates unbreakable ciphers for secure communication.

2. writing, or a piece of writing, done by a secret method; a coded message:

   Hostile agents intercepted the cipher and began trying to figure out its meaning.

3. the key to a secret method of writing:

   After a year of studying the coded messages, the analysts were no closer to discovering the cipher.

4. someone or something that is not understood; mystery or enigma:

   I just can’t figure him out—he’s a complete cipher to me.

5. zero ( def 1 ).
6. a person or thing of no influence or importance; nonentity:

   Having lost the party leadership, she is now a mere cipher on the political scene.

7. Usually cypher.
   1. a performance by a group of rappers, hip-hop artists, or break dancers who take turns improvising individual verses, dances, etc.
   2. an individual verse, dance, etc., that is part of such a performance.
8. any of the Arabic numerals, such as 1, 2, or 3, or any number written with such numerals, such as 476.
9. Arabic numerical notation collectively:

   The date is MXML in Roman numerals, or 1950 in cipher.

10. a combination of letters, such as the initials of a name, in one design; monogram:

    The cipher for Queen Elizabeth II had an E entwined with an R for regina, Latin for “queen,” on either side of a Roman numeral II.

verb (used without object)

1. to use figures or numerals arithmetically; do arithmetic:

   He had never learned to read or write, but he could cipher.

2. to write messages in or as if in a secret code.

verb (used with object)

1. to convert into code; encrypt:

   The program works by ciphering or scrambling the data.

2. to figure out the meaning of; interpret or decode (often used with out ):

   Using a good phrase book, the tourist was able to cipher out what people were saying.

3. to calculate numerically; figure (often used with out ):

   I tried to cipher out the interest on the loan, compounded over five years.

cipher

/ ˈsaɪfə /

noun

1. a method of secret writing using substitution or transposition of letters according to a key
2. a secret message
3. the key to a secret message
4. an obsolete name for zero
5. any of the Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, etc, to 9) or the Arabic system of numbering as a whole
6. a person or thing of no importance; nonentity
7. a design consisting of interwoven letters; monogram
8. music a defect in an organ resulting in the continuous sounding of a pipe, the key of which has not been depressed

verb

1. to put (a message) into secret writing
2. intr (of an organ pipe) to sound without having the appropriate key depressed
3. rare.
   to perform (a calculation) arithmetically

Other Words From

• ci·pher·a·ble adjective
• ci·pher·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cipher¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English siphre, from Medieval Latin ciphra, from Arabic ṣifr “empty, zero”; translation of Sanskrit śūnyā “empty”

Word History and Origins

Origin of cipher¹

C14: from Old French cifre zero, from Medieval Latin cifra, from Arabic sifr zero, empty

Example Sentences

Being something of a political cipher may have helped Revels rise to prominence.

From The Daily Beast

He is a cipher who has reduced his own party to near-cipher status.

From The Daily Beast

The Scientists profusely apologized when I left the table at which they had their Cipher.

From The Daily Beast

But what of all those people watching at home, waiting for Ann to explain the cipher that is Mittens?

From The Daily Beast

How else to explain the astounding fact that this cynical cipher is now more or less neck and neck with Obama in the polls?

From The Daily Beast

The figure value of “sew,” therefore equals or is represented by a cipher .

From Project Gutenberg

A will may be found, or my uncle's marriage proved; in either case, I sink back into the cipher I was before.

From Project Gutenberg

In those old days when I was thrown much with this man, he had shown me a curious cipher and taught me how to use it.

From Project Gutenberg

So the duke said it was kind of hard to have to lay roped all day, and he'd cipher out some way to get around it.

From Project Gutenberg

He l'arned to read, en when Maizie came, he l'arned to write en cipher after he was a grown man.

From Project Gutenberg