cipher
Syllables: ci·pher/ˈsaɪfə//ˈsaɪfɚ/
cipher noun: a numeric character.
Noun
cipher (plural ciphers)
- A numeric character.
- Any text character.
- 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; […]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...
- A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name.
- a painter's cipher
- an engraver's cipher
- A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.
- The message was written in a simple cipher. Anyone could figure it out.
- 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...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...
- Synonyms:
- code
- A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into ciphertext.
- a public-key cipher
- Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher.
- The message is clearly a cipher, but I can't figure it out.
- 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.
- A fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed.
- A hip-hop jam session.
- They say no girls in the cipher, so I rock solo2011, “The World Is Listening”, in The Journey Aflame, performed by Akua Naru
- The path (usually circular) shared cannabis takes through a group, an occasion of cannabis smoking.
- As the night seemed darker, cops is on a hunt / They interrupt your cipher, and crush your blunt1993, “Midnight”, in Midnight Marauders, performed by A Tribe Called Quest
- Synonyms:
- rotation
- Someone or something of no importance.
- There he was a mere cypher: here he was lord of the ascendant; the choice spirit, the dominant genius.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]...
- Synonyms:
- nobody, nonentity, nothing, absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver, crumb, Joe Nobody, little guy, minnow
- Zero.
- 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.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...
- 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 .03125.1716, 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...
Verb
cipher (third-person singular simple present ciphers, present participle ciphering, simple past and past participle ciphered)
- To calculate.
- I never learned much more than how to read and cipher.
- For the mischief that one blockhead, that every blockhead does, in a world so feracious, teeming with endless results as ours, no ciphering will sum up.1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Abbot Samson”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk), page 88
- To write in code or cipher.
- Of an organ pipe: to sound independent of the organ.
- To decipher.
- Yea the illiterate that know not how
To cipher what is writ in learned bookes,
VVill cote my lothſome treſpaſſe in my lookes.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature [F4], recto
- Yea the illiterate that know not how
cipher meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cipher in Hindi
- साइफर, सिफर, साइफ़र
cipher in Tamil
- பூச்சியம், சுழி, சுழியம், சைபர், இன்மை, இன்மைக் குறி
cipher in Marathi
- सायफर, सिफर, साइफर
cipher in Urdu
- نقطہ, صفر
More languagesFewer languages
- cipher in Bengali
- সংকেত, সংখ্যা
- cipher in Telugu
- నాస్తి nāsti
- cipher in Malayalam
- പൂജ്യം അല്ലെങ്കിൽ ശൂന്യം, രഹസ്യഭാഷ, ഗൂഡലിപി, ഗൂഡഭാഷ എന്ന അർഥത്തിൽ
- cipher in Kannada
- ಸೊನ್ನೆ, ಸುಳಿ, ಮುಚ್ಚರು, ಶೂನ್ಯ
- cipher in Punjabi
- ਸਾਈਫਰ, ਸਾਇਫਰ, ਸਿਫਰ
- cipher in Gujarati
- સાઇફર, સાયફર, સિફર
- cipher in Odia
- ସାଇଫର୍, ସାଇଫର, ସିଫର୍
- cipher in Sanskrit
- ह ha
- cipher in Nepali
- साइफर, सिफर, साइफर गर्न
- cipher in Arabic
- شِيفْرَة šīfra
Examples of cipher in a sentence
- We saw earlier about this new symbol, the cipher, that can make numbers big.2024, Numberphile, by Brady Haran with Rob Eastaway, The Big X - Numberphile:
- So I must baffle at the hint / And cipher at the sign, / And make much blunder, if at last / I take the clew divine.a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “[Book IV.—Time and Eternity] (please specify the chapter or poem)”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and...
- Can you cipher too—along with your reading and writing?1979, Octavia E[stelle] Butler, Kindred:
Synonyms of cipher
22 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of cipher
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ciphers |
| alternative UK | cypher |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ciphers |
| present participle | ciphering |
| past participle | ciphered |
| past | ciphered |
Origin of cipher
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.
Words formed from cipher
- Baconian cipher
- Bacon's cipher
- Beaufort cipher
- bifid cipher
- block cipher
- Caesar cipher
- cipherdom
- cipherene
- 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
Words that rhyme with cipher
Questions about cipher
- What does cipher mean?
- Cipher means a numeric character.
- What is cipher in Hindi?
- Cipher in Hindi is साइफर, सिफर, साइफ़र. See Cipher meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cipher in a sentence?
- We saw earlier about this new symbol, the cipher, that can make numbers big.
- What part of speech is cipher?
- Cipher can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce cipher?
- Cipher is pronounced /ˈsaɪfə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cipher?
- The plural of cipher is ciphers.
Words near cipher in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cipher (page history and authors); cipher (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cipher (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cipher (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cipher (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cipher (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); నాస్తి (Telugu) (page history and authors); cipher (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cipher (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cipher (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cipher (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cipher (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ह (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); cipher (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cipher.wav, en-us-cipher.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cipher.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cipher. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.