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

Earlier this month, both Google and Cloudflare bumped up their internal deadline for PQC (post-quantum cryptography) readiness to 2029, an acceleration of roughly five years. —Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 17 Apr. 2026

Quantum cryptography had grown, as quantum computers went from theoretical ideas to experiments in the real world. —Matt Von Hippel, Quanta Magazine, 17 Apr. 2026

Based on his writings, it’s widely believed that Satoshi was part of the Cypherpunks, an anarchist movement formed in the early 1990s dedicated to using cryptography to undermine government surveillance and censorship. —Frank Landymore, Futurism, 9 Apr. 2026

That’s because quantum computers based on the theory could one day break the cryptography that secures our Internet and our financial system. —Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 31 Mar. 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