cryptogram

English

Alternative forms

• cryptogramme (very rare)

Etymology

From crypto- +‎ -gram.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cryptogram (plural cryptograms)

1. Encrypted text.
   • 1981, Norma Gleason, Cryptograms and Spygrams, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 7:

     It's a big help in solving cryptograms if you know how a cryptogram is constructed. The constructor normally uses two alphabets, one for plaintext, one for the substitute cipher letters.

   • 2002, Fred Piper, Sean Murphy, Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 35:

     To anyone who does not know the key, the five characters of the cryptogram are different but the genuine receiver is in no danger of confusion.

   • 2019, Ioanna Iordanou, Venice's Secret Service: Organizing Intelligence in the Renaissance, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 139:

     Indeed, Willaert was unable to read Charles's musical notation because it was actually a musical cryptogram passing for a madrigal, making absolutely no sense to a mere musician's naked eye, despite his towering talent.

2. (games) A type of word puzzle in which text encoded by a simple cipher is to be decoded.
   • 2007, Charles Seife, Decoding the Universe, Penguin, →ISBN:

     You already know this if you are an amateur codebreaker. On the comics pages of many newspapers, you will find a little puzzle known as a cryptogram. It's usually a famous quotation that has been encrypted in a very straightforward way […]

Derived terms

• cryptogrammic
• cryptogrammist

 

Translations

encrypted text

• Burmese: အက္ခရာဝှက် (my) (akhka.rahwak)
• Finnish: salakirjoitus (fi)
• Portuguese: criptograma f
• Spanish: criptograma f

Further reading

• cryptogram on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “cryptogram”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cryptogram”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Dutch

Etymology

From crypto- +‎ -gram.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkrɪp.toːˈɣrɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cryp‧to‧gram
• Rhymes: -ɑm

Noun

cryptogram n (plural cryptogrammen, diminutive cryptogrammetje n)

1. cryptic crossword (crossword puzzle with cryptic definitions)

Related terms

• cryptograaf
• cryptografie
• cryptografisch