encode

American  

[en-kohd] / ɛnˈkoʊd /

verb (used with object)

• encodes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• encoded,
  past participle,  past
• encoding
  present participle

1. to convert (a message, information, etc.) into code.

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encode British  

/ ɪnˈkəʊd /

verb

1. to convert (a message) from plain text into code

2. computing to convert (characters and symbols) into a digital form as a series of impulses Compare decode

3. to convert (an electrical signal) into a form suitable for transmission

4. to convert (a nerve signal) into a form that can be received by the brain

5. to use (a word, phrase, etc, esp of a foreign language) in the construction appropriate to it in that language

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encode Scientific  

/ ĕn-kōd′ /

1. To specify the genetic code for the synthesis of a protein molecule or a part of a protein molecule.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• encodement
  noun
• encoder
  noun
• misencode
  verb (used with object)
• encodable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• encoding
  present
• encoded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• encode
  simple
• encodes
  simple
• have encoded
  perfect
• has encoded
  perfect
• am encoding
  progressive
• are encoding
  progressive
• is encoding
  progressive
• have been encoding
  perfect progressive
• has been encoding
  perfect progressive

Past

• encoded
  simple
• had encoded
  perfect
• was encoding
  progressive
• were encoding
  progressive
• had been encoding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will encode
  simple
• will have encoded
  perfect
• will be encoding
  progressive
• will have been encoding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of encode

First recorded in 1930–35; en- ¹ + code

Explanation

To encode something is to put it into a coded form. During World War II, countries would encode messages so that if they were intercepted, their enemies couldn't understand them. There are various reasons why information might need to be written in code: spies and secret agents need to encode messages so that only people who know the code can decipher their meanings. Computer languages are also thought of as codes, and when you convert information into one of these languages, you also encode it — although this modern meaning is usually shortened to the verb code.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

encode encodes encoded encoding

Some AI companies are now trying to encode human values into their products.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

Cohen found MOTS-c by combing through the 97% of human DNA that doesn’t encode for genes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

"Our approach enabled us to isolate specific genetic and immune factors, then translate those signatures to human brain scans, showing that different connectivity patterns encode different mechanistic pathways underlying autism."

From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2026

Telegraphy was nearly instantaneous, but it required skilled operators at each end of the line to encode and decode the message, effectively slowing transmission.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

Instead of trying to measure the area inside a parabola as the Greeks did, early algebraists sought to find the solutions to equations that encode relationships between different numbers.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Understanding how an animal brain encodes memories and the emotional responses they evoke could lead to better cognitive therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025

Watson was 25 when he and English biophysicist Francis Crick figured out the double-helix structure of DNA that encodes the essential information for life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

This might be because the brain encodes bodily information as part of the details of an event.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2025

But when the researchers looked at Arhgap36’s genetic sequence in orange cats, they didn’t find any mutations in the DNA that encodes the Arhgap36 protein.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 27, 2024

This additional layer of complexity—that DNA encodes a protein that allows DNA to replicate—is important because it provides a critical node for regulation.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Trauma can affect how memories are encoded and recalled.

From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026

Faced with an entire fourth quarter of do-or-die plays, Manning flashed the skills that fans have long assumed were encoded in his DNA.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

"The significance extends far beyond phages – it suggests that genome language models are beginning to learn the design principles encoded by evolution, opening the door to AI-assisted genome writing."

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Rather than isolating individual colors directly, the detectors collect encoded signals that contain hidden spectral information.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

Every message to London has to be laboriously encoded and delivered on a bicycle to a hidden wireless set 10 miles from here.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

There are also philosophical challenges: before encoding human values into bots, AI firms have to first choose which values they actually want.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

Accordingly, he discerns that much of what passes for “AI alignment” is, in practice, a small number of San Francisco labs encoding their idiosyncratic values into systems that now shape billions of lives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

Another important development is time-bin encoding, a technique that stores information in the arrival times of photons.

From Science Daily ● May 9, 2026

Jargon, while efficiently encoding this knowledge, adds a safety buffer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

Indeed, as predicted, when the gene encoding the hemoglobin B chain was later identified and sequenced in sickle-cell patients, there was a single change: one triplet in DNA—GAG—had changed to another—GTG.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee