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

Scientists there analyze it to identify genetic mutations unique to that patient’s cancer, encode them into an mRNA vaccine and return the vaccine to New York in about nine weeks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

He emphasizes that the human ability to encode information developed gradually over tens of thousands of years.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026

Since 2019, Microsoft's Silica project has been trying to encode data on glass plates, in a throwback to the early days of photography, when negatives were also stored on glass.

From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026

Now, the Surge doesn’t think it would be that much effort to encode those promises into law, to be extra careful.

From Slate ● Jan. 17, 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

Among these 53 genes, one encodes a protein called girdin.

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

The fact that the genome also encodes genes to repair damage to the genome was discovered by several geneticists, including Evelyn Witkin and Steve Elledge.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Because the detector signals are noisy and highly encoded, the AI learns the complicated relationship between those signals and the actual spectrum of light.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

“Up to that point, the highest number of encoded qubits anyone has done any experiments with was two or three, and they jumped straight to 48,” Fitzsimons explained.

From Barron's ● May 20, 2026

Like traditional computers whose basic information is encoded by bits, quantum computers rely on quantum bits.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

The same chip was also used for a QPSK-based CV-QKD protocol, where information is encoded in a four-point constellation of quantum states.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 24, 2026

Another gene encoded an enzyme that was needed to break down lactose into parts.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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

Building on this work, the team created a 3D modulation encoding strategy.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026

And she did give them code—eleven sets of encoding poems, passwords, and frequencies.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein