cryptography

noun

cryp·​tog·​ra·​phy krip-ˈtä-grə-fē How to pronounce cryptography (audio)
1
: secret writing
2
: the enciphering and deciphering of messages in secret code or cipher
also : the computerized encoding and decoding of information
3

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 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 There’s a notion in cryptography known as Kerckhoffs’s principle which states that the only thing that should actually be secret in a cryptosystem is the secret key itself. IEEE Spectrum, 13 Feb. 2024 In elliptic curve cryptography, this one-way function is based on the Discrete Logarithm problem in mathematics. Jeanne Timmons, Ars Technica, 20 Sep. 2023 Additionally, since existing hardware and software infrastructures may not support the requirements of 3072-bit cryptography, modifications to these infrastructures may be necessary. Mike Housch, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 In our increasingly digital lives, security depends on cryptography. Madison Goldberg, WIRED, 11 Feb. 2024 Introduction In our increasingly digital lives, security depends on cryptography. Madison Goldberg, Quanta Magazine, 14 Dec. 2023 There was a maxim in cryptography, often referred to as Schneier’s law after the cryptographer Bruce Schneier. Andy Greenberg, Ars Technica, 18 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cryptography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of cryptography was in 1646

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Dictionary Entries Near cryptography

Cite this Entry

“Cryptography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptography. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

cryptography

noun
cryp·​tog·​ra·​phy krip-ˈtäg-rə-fē How to pronounce cryptography (audio)
: the coding and decoding of secret messages
cryptographer
-fər
noun

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