cipher – English noun declension

English noun forms of cipher

Noun: cipher
Singularcipher
Pluralciphers

Sample Sentences

  • In ſucceeding times this vnderſtanding wiſedome began to be written in Ciphers, and Characters, and letters bearing the forme of beaſtes, birds, and other creatures; […] [1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of diuers memorable things betweene the fall of Adam, and the floud of Noah”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 1st book, §. VI (Of the Patriarchs deliuering their knowledge by Tradition: and that Enoch writ before the floud), pages 78–79:]
  • a painter's cipher
  • an engraver's cipher
  • Just then, an attendant to whom the Queen had whispered returned; and taking a small case from her hand, Anne produced a bracelet somewhat similar to the very one with which Francesca had parted, excepting that it had her cipher, surrounded by a wreath of fleurs-de-lis. "Louis, will you offer this to Mademoiselle Carrara?" [1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 290:]
  • The message was written in a simple cipher. Anyone could figure it out.
  • He was very early engaged in great ſecrets: For his fatherr, apprehending of what fatal conſequence it would have been to the King’s affairs if his correſpondence had been diſcovered by unfaithful Secretaries, engaged him when very young to write all his letters to England in cypher; ſo that he was generally half the day writing in cypher, or decyphering, and was ſo diſcrect, as well as faithful, that nothing was ever diſcovered by him. [a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book II. Of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of King Charles II. from the Year 1660 to the Year 1673.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC, page 257:]
  • a public-key cipher
  • The message is clearly a cipher, but I can't figure it out.
  • The probability is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000 — a number having five ciphers of zeros.
  • They say no girls in the cipher, so I rock solo [2011, “The World Is Listening”, in The Journey Aflame, performed by Akua Naru:]
  • As the night seemed darker, cops is on a hunt / They interrupt your cipher, and crush your blunt [1993, “Midnight”, in Midnight Marauders, performed by A Tribe Called Quest:]
  • There he was a mere cypher: here he was lord of the ascendant; the choice spirit, the dominant genius. [1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Club of Queer Fellows”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 2 (Buckthorne and His Friends), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 22:]
  • O pardon: ſince a crooked Figure may / Atteſt in little place a Million, / And let vs, Cyphers to this great Accompt, / On your imaginarie Forces worke. [1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, prologue], page 69, columns 1–2:]
  • Firſt, Find what Decimal of a Pound .625 will Repreſent, which is eaſily done if you prepone a Cypher, and half the Number is the Decimal of a Pound. The Number with a Cypher preponed is .0625, ½ is .03125. [1716, John Hill, Arithmetick Both in the Theory and Practice, Made Plain and Easie, in All the Common and Useful Rules, Both in Whole Numbers, and Fractions, Vulgar and Decimal. […], 2nd edition, London: […] D. Midwinter, […], page 185:]
  • We saw earlier about this new symbol, the cipher, that can make numbers big. [2024, Numberphile, by Brady Haran with Rob Eastaway, The Big X - Numberphile:]

Etymology

14th century. From Middle English cifre, from Old French cyfre, cyffre (French chiffre), ultimately from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “zero, empty”), from صَفَرَ (ṣafara, “to be empty”). Doublet of chiffre and zero. Sense 8 (a fault in an organ valve) may be a different word. See: Middle English Nouns 'cifre', French Nouns 'chiffre'.

Verbs referencing "cipher"

Spanish Nouns cifra, Dutch Nouns cijfer.