Word.ws English Dictionary

Cardan grille

Cardan grille noun: a sheet of card or thin metal, etc., used in composing secret messages. The words of the message are written through a number of holes cut arbitrarily in the sheet, and the remaining paper is then filled with irrelevant words to disguise it.

Noun

Cardan grille (plural Cardan grilles)

  1. A sheet of card or thin metal, etc., used in composing secret messages. The words of the message are written through a number of holes cut arbitrarily in the sheet, and the remaining paper is then filled with irrelevant words to disguise it.

Forms of Cardan grille

pluralCardan grilles

Origin of Cardan grille

Proposed in 1550 by Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576), known in French as Jérôme Cardan.

Questions about Cardan grille

What does Cardan grille mean?
Cardan grille means a sheet of card or thin metal, etc., used in composing secret messages. The words of the message are written through a number of holes cut arbitrarily in the sheet, and the remaining paper is then filled with irrelevant words to disguise it.
What part of speech is Cardan grille?
Cardan grille is a noun.
What is the plural of Cardan grille?
The plural of Cardan grille is Cardan grilles.

Words near Cardan grille in the dictionary

  1. cardamonin
  2. cardamons
  3. cardamum
  4. cardamums
  5. Cardan
  6. Cardan grille
  7. Cardan grilles
  8. cardan shaft
  9. cardan shafts
  10. cardanol
  11. cardanolide

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Cardan grille (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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