cipher
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsaɪfə/
enpr: sī′-fər
ipa: /ˈsaɪfɚ/
rhymes: -aɪfə(ɹ)
Forms: form: ciphers
form: cypher
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.
Senses: synonyms: number
numeral
digit
glosses: A numeric character.
examples: text: In ſucceeding times this vnderſtanding wiſedome began to be written in Ciphers, and Characters, and letters bearing the forme of beaſtes, birds, and other creatures; […]
ref: 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of diuers memorable things betweene the fall of Adam, and the floud of Noah”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 1st book, §. VI (Of the Patriarchs deliuering their knowledge by Tradition: and that Enoch writ before the floud), pages 78–79:
glosses: Any text character.
examples: text: a painter's cipher
text: an engraver's cipher
text: Just then, an attendant to whom the Queen had whispered returned; and taking a small case from her hand, Anne produced a bracelet somewhat similar to the very one with which Francesca had parted, excepting that it had her cipher, surrounded by a wreath of fleurs-de-lis. "Louis, will you offer this to Mademoiselle Carrara?"
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 290:
synonyms: device
monogram
glosses: A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name.
examples: text: The message was written in a simple cipher. Anyone could figure it out.
text: He was very early engaged in great ſecrets: For his fatherr, apprehending of what fatal conſequence it would have been to the King’s affairs if his correſpondence had been diſcovered by unfaithful Secretaries, engaged him when very young to write all his letters to England in cypher; ſo that he was generally half the day writing in cypher, or decyphering, and was ſo diſcrect, as well as faithful, that nothing was ever diſcovered by him.
ref: a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book II. Of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of King Charles II. from the Year 1660 to the Year 1673.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC, page 257:
synonyms: code
glosses: A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.
examples: text: a public-key cipher
topics: computing
cryptography
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into ciphertext.
examples: text: The message is clearly a cipher, but I can't figure it out.
glosses: Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher.
examples: text: The probability is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000 — a number having five ciphers of zeros.
glosses: A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed.
examples: text: They say no girls in the cipher, so I rock solo
ref: 2011, “The World Is Listening”, in The Journey Aflame, performed by Akua Naru:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A hip-hop jam session.
examples: text: As the night seemed darker, cops is on a hunt / They interrupt your cipher, and crush your blunt
ref: 1993, “Midnight”, in Midnight Marauders, performed by A Tribe Called Quest:
synonyms: rotation
glosses: The path (usually circular) shared cannabis takes through a group, an occasion of cannabis smoking.
examples: text: There he was a mere cypher: here he was lord of the ascendant; the choice spirit, the dominant genius.
ref: 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Club of Queer Fellows”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 2 (Buckthorne and His Friends), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 22:
synonyms: word: nobody
word: nonentity
word: nothing
word: absolute zero
word: also-ran
word: chopped liver
word: cipher
word: crumb
word: Joe Nobody
word: little guy
word: minnow
word: nebbish
word: nobody
word: no one
word: nothing
word: nothingburger
word: nonentity
word: picayune
word: pip-squeak
word: pleb
word: peon
word: prole
word: puny
word: quidam
word: rinky-dink
word: shrimp
word: wankstain
word: zero
word: zilch
glosses: Someone or something of no importance.
examples: text: O pardon: ſince a crooked Figure may / Atteſt in little place a Million, / And let vs, Cyphers to this great Accompt, / On your imaginarie Forces worke.
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, prologue], page 69, columns 1–2:
text: Firſt, Find what Decimal of a Pound .625 will Repreſent, which is eaſily done if you prepone a Cypher, and half the Number is the Decimal of a Pound. The Number with a Cypher preponed is .0625, ½ is .03125.
ref: 1716, John Hill, Arithmetick Both in the Theory and Practice, Made Plain and Easie, in All the Common and Useful Rules, Both in Whole Numbers, and Fractions, Vulgar and Decimal. […], 2nd edition, London: […] D. Midwinter, […], page 185:
text: We saw earlier about this new symbol, the cipher, that can make numbers big.
ref: 2024, Numberphile, by Brady Haran with Rob Eastaway, The Big X - Numberphile:
glosses: Zero.
glosses: Eggcorn of siphon.
Derived terms: 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