cipher

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word cipher. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word cipher, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say cipher in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word cipher you have here. The definition of the word cipher will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofcipher, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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 zero. Sense 8 (a fault in an organ valve) may be a different word.

Pronunciation

Noun

cipher (plural ciphers)

  1. A numeric character.
    Synonyms: number, numeral
  2. Any text character.
    • 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World , London: William Stansby for Walter Burre, , →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
      This understanding wisdom began to be written in ciphers and characters and letters bearing the forms of creatures.
  3. A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name.
    Synonyms: device, monogram
    a painter's cipher
    an engraver's cipher
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Francesca Carrara. , volume I, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 290:
      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?"
  4. A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.
    Synonym: code
    The message was written in a simple cipher. Anyone could figure it out.
    • 1724, [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by , Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Ward , →OCLC:
      His father […] engaged him when he was very young to write all his letters to England in cipher.
  5. (cryptography) A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into ciphertext.
    a public-key cipher
  6. Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher.
    The message is clearly a cipher, but I can't figure it out.
  7. A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods:
    The probability is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000 — a number having five ciphers of zeros.
  8. (music) A fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed.
  9. (music, slang) A hip-hop jam session.
    • 2011, “The World Is Listening”, in The Journey Aflame, performed by Akua Naru:
      They say no girls in the cipher, so I rock solo
  10. (slang) The path (usually circular) shared cannabis takes through a group, an occasion of cannabis smoking.
    Synonym: rotation
    • 1993, “Midnight”, performed by A Tribe Called Quest:
      As the night seemed darker, cops is on a hunt / They interrupt your cipher, and crush your blunt
  11. Someone or something of no importance.
    Synonyms: nobody, nonentity, nothing; see also Thesaurus:nonentity
    • 1724, [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by , Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Ward , →OCLC:
      There he was a mere cipher.
  12. (dated) Zero.
  13. Eggcorn of siphon.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

any text character
method for concealing the meaning of text
obsolete: zero — see zero

Verb

cipher (third-person singular simple present ciphers, present participle ciphering, simple past and past participle ciphered)

  1. (intransitive, regional, dated) To calculate.
    I never learned much more than how to read and cipher.
  2. (intransitive) To write in code or cipher.
  3. (intransitive, music) Of an organ pipe: to sound independent of the organ.
  4. (obsolete) To decipher.

References

  1. ^ Cipher. (n.d.). In the New Oxford American Dictionary.
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20060213154654/http://rapdict.org/Cipher Rap Dictionary. Retrieved 30 November 2005.

Anagrams

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia