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# cipher

noun (cipher, ciphers; also spelled cypher, UK); verb (cipher, ciphers, ciphered, ciphering — rare)

«cipher» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A secret code in which letters are swapped or mixed up by a rule so that only people who know the rule can read the message. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#m1)
2. A message written in such a code. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#m2)
3. A person who has no power or importance and just does what others say: «The king was a mere cipher». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#m3)
4. (old or formal) The figure zero, 0; in old books also any number digit. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#m4)
5. (verb, old) To do sums or to write in code. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#m5)

### In the lessons

In maths and computing lessons ciphers teach patterns and shifting: a Caesar cipher moves every letter a fixed number of places along the alphabet (A becomes D with a shift of 3). In history it links to Alan Turing and the code-breakers of Bletchley Park who broke the German Enigma cipher in the Second World War. In stories a cipher is a puzzle the heroes must crack. Phrases: «Caesar cipher», «break a cipher», «crack the cipher», «written in cipher», «a cipher key».

### Examples

- We wrote secret notes to each other in a Caesar cipher. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x1)
- With a shift of three, the word CAT becomes FDW in the cipher. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x2)
- The spies sent the plans in cipher. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x3)
- It took the code-breakers months to crack the cipher. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x4)
- Without the key the cipher looked like nonsense. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x5)
- In the story, the map was covered in a strange cipher. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x6)
- The new prime minister was just a cipher for the party bosses. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x7)
- Our maths teacher turned the times tables into a cipher puzzle. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x8)
- But as for me, I had gone quite beyond all lapse of time, and had become a cipher and a nothing. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/#x9)

### Note

Spelled cipher (US and most UK) or cypher (older UK). Strictly, a code swaps whole words, while a cipher changes single letters, but in everyday talk people use both for secret writing. To «encipher» or «encrypt» is to put a message into a cipher; to «decipher» or «decrypt» is to get it back out. «Decipher» also means to read messy handwriting. In a maths puzzle, a shift cipher wraps around: after Z comes A again.

## In Jewish tradition

In the Sefer Yetzirah it means a sign or symbol standing for something. It can also mean the number zero.

**Interpretation.** The Sefer Yetzirah reads the twenty-two letters as signs through which God made matter and words. Mordell links the letters and numbers to the origins of writing.

### Examples

- A cipher for the matter: twenty-two (numbers) \[objects\] in one body. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cipher/#x1)
- This is a cipher: observing, transforming, making all matter and all words one name. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cipher/#x2)
- The angel which the cipher n symbolizes, is apparently Satan \]r:z', who appears before God to prosecute all mortal beings as he prosecuted (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cipher/#x3)

### Note

Spelled cipher (US and most UK) or cypher (older UK). Strictly, a code swaps whole words, while a cipher changes single letters, but in everyday talk people use both for secret writing. To «encipher» or «encrypt» is to put a message into a cipher; to «decipher» or «decrypt» is to get it back out. «Decipher» also means to read messy handwriting. In a maths puzzle, a shift cipher wraps around: after Z comes A again.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cipher» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cipher/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cipher» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cipher.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «cipher» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cipher/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cipher» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/cipher.html) on Mova free.