cryptography

noun cryp·tog·ra·phy \ krip-ˈtä-grə-fē \

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Examples: cryptography in a Sentence

Definition of cryptography

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

See cryptography defined for English-language learners

See cryptography defined for kids

cryptography was our Word of the Day on 05/25/2011. Hear the podcast!

Examples of cryptography in a Sentence

Companies often use cryptography to protect private information.

Recent Examples of cryptography from the Web

The protocol uses Curve25519 (RFC 8032), X25519 (RFC 8031), and Chacha20Poly1305 (RFC 7539) cryptography.

— sean gallagher, Ars Technica, "How to keep your ISP’s nose out of your browser history with encrypted DNS," 8 Apr. 2018
Many in the audience believed that blockchain, a security technology using cryptography, will play a larger and larger role in securing health data in the future.

— erika fry, Fortune, "Everyone Wants Your Healthcare Data," 21 Mar. 2018
The fiasco tainted all subsequent attempts at installing government backdoors, and by 1999, most government efforts to regulate cryptography had been abandoned, with barely a murmur from the FBI or the NSA.

— steven levy, WIRED, "Cracking the Crypto War," 25 Apr. 2018
Some of the most skeptical folks are experts in cryptography and computer security.

— john schwartz, New York Times, "Blockchain or Blockheads? Bitcoin Mania Mints Believers and Skeptics," 12 Jan. 2018
Wu said cybersecurity and cryptography can benefit from his work because much of it is based on prime numbers and number theory.

— erin b. logan, Washington Post, "She’s a champion science student. But she loves history. What should she do?," 6 May 2018
Suddenly the obscure field of cryptography became a hot button.

— steven levy, WIRED, "Cracking the Crypto War," 25 Apr. 2018
It is designed to test aptitude in areas such as cryptography and digital forensics.

— pat eaton-robb, The Seattle Times, "Woman at top of her game seeks girls with a cyber-aptitude," 4 Feb. 2018
Its cryptography is designed to protect against surveillance states or identity thieves.

— steven johnson, New York Times, "Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble," 16 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cryptography.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

For a word having to do with secrets, "cryptography" has a surprisingly transparent etymology. The word traces back to the Greek roots kryptos, meaning "hidden," and graphein, meaning "to write." "Kryptos" - which in turn traces to the Greek verb kryptein, meaning "to hide" - is a root shared by several English words, including "crypt," "cryptic," and "encrypt." "Krypton," the name of a colorless gaseous element used especially in some fluorescent lamps and photography flashes, also comes from "kryptos." The name was chosen because the gas is rare and hard to find.

Origin and Etymology of cryptography

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).

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1646

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year