cryptography

noun

cryp·​tog·​ra·​phy krip-ˈtä-grə-fē 

1

: secret writing

2

: the enciphering and deciphering of messages in secret code or cipher

also : the computerized encoding and decoding of information

3

: cryptanalysis

Did you know?

For a word having to do with secrets, cryptography has a surprisingly transparent origin. The word comes from Greek kryptós, meaning "hidden" or "secret," and graphein, meaning "to write." Besides the familiar related words of the same origin, such as cryptic, there is krypton, the name of a colorless gaseous element used especially in some fluorescent lamps and photography flashes. The name was chosen because the gas is rare and hard to find.

Examples of cryptography in a Sentence

Companies often use cryptography to protect private information.

Recent Examples on the Web

Some of your most famous work explores the connections between cryptography and computational complexity theory. —Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024

This is a social science mechanism that traditionally has been absent from conventional cryptography. —Korok Ray, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024

Ylönen, who at the time knew little about implementing strong cryptography in code, set out to develop the Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) in early 1995, about three months after the discovery of the password sniffer. —Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 19 Dec. 2023

Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Copilot also has a list: Quantum Leap in Computing: Quantum computing will continue to advance, unlocking new possibilities in cryptography, optimization, and scientific simulations. —Steve Andriole, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024

Most encrypted messaging apps using public key cryptography have used RSA, Elliptic Curve, or Diffie-Hellman algorithms. —Matt Burgess, WIRED, 21 Feb. 2024

To head off that doomsday eventuality, engineers and mathematicians have been developing a new class of PQC, short for post-quantum cryptography. —Jeanne Timmons, Ars Technica, 20 Sep. 2023

Scientists are working on creating quantum computers, which would allow for completely new forms of cryptography, analytics, and calculation at incredibly fast speeds. —Chuck Brooks, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024

Responding to the potential threat—which has been known about since the 1990s—intelligence and security agencies have become increasingly vocal about developing and deploying quantum-resistant cryptography. —Matt Burgess, WIRED, 21 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin cryptographia, from crypto- crypto- + -graphia -graphy

Note: New Latin cryptographia was perhaps first used by the Limburg-born philologist Erycius Puteanus (Eric de Put, Eric van den Putte, 1574-1646) in "Cryptographia epistolica, sive de clandestina scriptione," an addendum to his Epistolarum reliquiae centuria V (Leuven/Louvain, 1612). An apparently more widely circulated work using the word was Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae libri IX (Lüneburg, 1624) by Gustavus Selenus, pseudonym of Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1579-1666).

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

cryptography

noun

cryp·​tog·​ra·​phy krip-ˈtäg-rə-fē 

: the coding and decoding of secret messages

cryptographer

-fər

noun