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

Experts believe these computers could eventually crack RSA cryptography, the algorithm of prime numbers that helps to safeguard encryption. —Justin Klawans, TheWeek, 26 May 2026

Post-quantum cryptography is moving from a future security concern to a practical planning issue for organizations. —Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026

Benjamin Dowling, a senior lecturer in cryptography at King’s College London and a co-author of the study, criticized the claims in an email to Ars Technica. —Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 23 May 2026

One example involved wolfSSL, an open-source cryptography library used in billions of devices. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 22 May 2026

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

Rhymes for cryptography

• arthrography
• biography
• cartography
• cosmography
• demography
• discography
• echography
• ethnography
• filmography
• geography
• hydrography
• lithography

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Kids Definition

cryptography

noun

cryp·​tog·​ra·​phy krip-ˈtäg-rə-fē 

: the coding and decoding of secret messages or digital information

cryptographer

-fər

noun