cypher
Americannoun
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Chiefly British. a variant of cipher.
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Also cipher
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a performance by a group of rappers, hip-hop artists, or break dancers who take turns improvising individual verses, dances, etc.
The show ended with a freestyle cypher featuring the rappers from the headliner and the two opening acts.
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an individual verse, dance, etc., that is part of such a performance.
She rose to stardom when her cypher that dissed two other male artists went viral.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of cypher
First recorded in 1995–2000
Explanation
A cypher is a message written in a secret code. Spies during World War II sometimes communicated using cyphers. If you use a cypher to send your friend a message, it may take her a while to figure out what you're trying to tell her. Some cyphers substitute numbers or symbols for letters, and you need a key to decipher — or interpret — them. Another kind of cypher is an unimportant person who's blank or devoid of personality — you might call a lifeless character in a book a cypher. The word has an Arabic root, sifr, "zero, empty, or nothing."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The box, featuring the King Charles III cypher, was delivered after Kirsten Shaw, a station support assistant who runs the British Antarctic Territory Post Office for staff, requested an upgrade to their handmade box.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025
At the BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher, a gathering of rap artists exchanging lyrics competitively, Lamar refuted Drake’s previous assertions of friendships.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
At the BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher, a gathering of rap artists exchanging lyrics competitively, Lamar refuted Drake's previous assertions of friendships.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
Because as well as illustrating this historic document, he is the designer of the King's cypher, the logo that you will begin to see on new banknotes, public buildings, uniforms and eventually on new postboxes.
From BBC ● May 2, 2024
She knew her mathematics to the Rule of Three, but whether she could cypher into fractions, I had no idea.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
