English Explanatory Dictionary

cipher

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A numeric character.
  2. Any text character.
  3. A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name.
  4. A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.
  5. A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into ciphertext.
  6. Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher.
  7. A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods
  8. A fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed.
  9. A hip-hop jam session.
  10. The path (usually circular) shared cannabis takes through a group, an occasion of cannabis smoking.
  11. Someone or something of no importance.
  12. Zero.
verb
  1. To calculate.
  2. To write in code or cipher.
  3. Of an organ pipe: to sound independent of the organ.
  4. To decipher.

Pronunciation

/ˈsaɪfə/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cipher.wav sī′-fər /ˈsaɪfɚ/ en-us-cipher.ogg

Word forms

cipher ciphers cypher ciphering ciphered

Etymology

14th century. From Middle English cifre, from Old French cyfre, cyffre (French chiffre), ultimately from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “zero, empty”), from صَفَرَ (ṣafara, “to be empty”). Doublet of chiffre and zero. Sense 8 (a fault in an organ valve) may be a different word.

Synonyms

number numeral digit device monogram code rotation nobody nonentity nothing absolute zero also-ran chopped liver cipher crumb Joe Nobody little guy minnow nebbish no one nothingburger picayune pip-squeak pleb peon prole puny quidam rinky-dink shrimp wankstain zero zilch

Derived words

Baconian cipher Bacon's cipher Beaufort cipher bifid cipher block cipher Caesar cipher cipherdom cipherhood cipherlike ciphertext ciphony classical cipher cypherpunk decipher encipher Feistel cipher Gronsfeld cipher Julius Caesar cipher Nihilist cipher pigpen cipher Playfair cipher rail fence cipher stream cipher subcipher substitution cipher telecipher transposition cipher trifid cipher uncipher Vigenère cipher cipherable cipherer recipher
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