Nihilist cipher
Nihilist cipher noun: a symmetric cipher in which a Polybius square using a mixed alphabet is used to convert both the plain text and a keyword to a series of two-digit numbers, which are then summed in the normal way to get the ciphertext, with the key numbers repeated as required; (by extension) any of several improved algorithms based on this.
Noun
Nihilist cipher (plural Nihilist ciphers)
- A symmetric cipher in which a Polybius square using a mixed alphabet is used to convert both the plain text and a keyword to a series of two-digit numbers, which are then summed in the normal way to get the ciphertext, with the key numbers repeated as required; (by extension) any of several improved algorithms based on this.
Forms of Nihilist cipher
| plural | Nihilist ciphers |
|---|
Origin of Nihilist cipher
The cipher was originally used by Russian Nihilists in the 1880s to organise terrorism against the tsarist regime.
Questions about Nihilist cipher
- What does Nihilist cipher mean?
- Nihilist cipher means a symmetric cipher in which a Polybius square using a mixed alphabet is used to convert both the plain text and a keyword to a series of two-digit numbers, which are then summed in the normal way to get the ciphertext, with the key numbers repeated as required; (by extension) any of several improved algorithms based on this.
- What part of speech is Nihilist cipher?
- Nihilist cipher is a noun.
- What is the plural of Nihilist cipher?
- The plural of Nihilist cipher is Nihilist ciphers.
Words near Nihilist cipher in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Nihilist cipher (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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Cite this entry: “Nihilist cipher.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nihilist_cipher. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.