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

But quantum phenomena allow information to be processed in ways that classical physics does not permit — that’s the entire basis of technologies such as quantum computing and quantum cryptography. —Quanta Magazine, 1 Oct. 2025

Quantum computers have long promised to revolutionize fields like quantum chemistry, cryptography, and large-scale optimization. —Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 29 Sep. 2025

To get ahead of some of these threats banks and tech firms are developing post-quantum cryptography, which are new algorithms built to withstand attacks from quantum machines. —Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2025

In August 2024, NIST formalized the world’s first post-quantum cryptography standards, establishing three quantum-resistant algorithms that provide a foundation for organizations worldwide. —Antonio Sanchez, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

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