cryptography

English

Etymology

From crypto- +‎ -graphy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: krĭptŏgʹrəfē, IPA^(key): [kɹ̥ɪpˈtʰɒɡɹəfiː], /kɹɪpˈtɒɡ.ɹə.fi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɡɹəfi

Noun

cryptography (usually uncountable, plural cryptographies)

1. The discipline concerned with communication security (eg, confidentiality of messages, integrity of messages, sender authentication, non-repudiation of messages, and many other related issues), regardless of the used medium such as pencil and paper or computers.
   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne (first use in English):

     We might abate...the strange cryptography of Gaffarell in his Starrie Booke of Heaven.

Usage notes

• Subfields include encoding, decoding, cryptanalysis, codes, ciphers, etc.
• In many languages, though less so in English, cognates to "cryptology" are also used with the meaning given above, and even preferred.
• Related to cryptography but distinct, steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no-one apart from the sender and intended recipient even realizes there is a hidden message.

Derived terms

• anticryptography
• asymmetric cryptography
• cryptographic
• elliptic-curve cryptography
• public-key cryptography

 

Related terms

• crypt
• cryptanalysis
• cryptographer
• cryptology

 

Translations

discipline concerned with communication security

• Asturian: criptografía f
• Belarusian: крыптагра́фія f (kryptahráfija)
• Bulgarian: криптография f (kriptografija)
• Catalan: criptografia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 密碼學／密码学 (zh) (mìmǎxué)

• Czech: kryptografie (cs) f
• Danish: kryptografi
• Dutch: cryptografie (nl) n, geheimschrift (nl) f
• Esperanto: kriptografio
• Finnish: kryptografia (fi), salakirjoitustaito
• French: cryptographie (fr) f
• Galician: criptografía (gl) f
• Georgian: კრიპტოგრაფია (ḳriṗṭograpia)
• German: Kryptographie (de) f
• Greek: κρυπτογραφία (el) f (kryptografía)
• Hindi: गूढ़लेखन m (gūṛhlekhan)
• Hungarian: kriptográfia (hu)
• Icelandic: dulritunarfræði f
• Indonesian: kriptografi (id)
• Irish: cripteagrafaíocht f
• Italian: crittografia (it) f
• Japanese: 暗号論 (angōron)
• Latvian: kriptogrāfija f
• Macedonian: криптографија f (kriptografija)
• Persian: رمزنگاری (fa) (ramz-negâri)
• Polish: kryptografia (pl) f
• Portuguese: criptografia (pt) f
• Romanian: criptografie (ro) f
• Russian: криптогра́фия (ru) f (kriptográfija)
• Spanish: criptografía (es) f
• Swedish: kryptografi (sv) c
• Ukrainian: криптогра́фія (uk) f (kryptohráfija)
• Yiddish: קריפּטאָגראַפֿיע f (kriptografye)

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of cryptography