What does encipher mean?
Encipher is a formal verb meaning to convert ordinary, readable text into a coded form so that its contents cannot be understood by anyone who does not possess the key. It belongs primarily to the vocabulary of cryptography, military signals, and intelligence work, where precision about the direction of transformation matters: one enciphers a message to hide it and deciphers it to recover it. The word derives from "cipher," which entered English through French from the Arabic ṣifr, meaning "empty" or "nothing" — the same source that ultimately gave us "zero." Although "encrypt" has become the dominant term in modern digital security, "encipher" persists in historical accounts of wartime codebreaking, technical literature on classical ciphers, and contexts where writers wish to distinguish traditional letter-and-number ciphers from contemporary mathematical encryption. Its noun form, "encipherment," denotes the act or result of putting text into code.
verbTo convert a message or text into a secret code or cipher in order to conceal its meaning.
- To convert plaintext into a cipher or coded form so that it cannot be understood without the key.
"The operator enciphered the orders before transmitting them over open radio channels."
"Diplomats routinely enciphered sensitive dispatches to prevent interception by rival powers."
"The software enciphers every file before it is uploaded to the server."
"Encipher" and "zero" are distant cousins — both trace back to the Arabic word ṣifr, meaning "empty," which gave us both "cipher" and our word for nothing at all.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of encipher
Encipher was formed in English from the prefix "en-" plus "cipher," following the pattern of verbs like "encase" and "entomb." Cipher itself came into English from French chiffre, ultimately from Arabic ṣifr, meaning "empty" or "zero," which also yielded the English word "zero" via Italian. The verb has been in use since roughly the early nineteenth century, when systematic military and diplomatic cryptography created a need for a term describing the act of putting text into cipher.
Related word forms
How encipher is actually used
Formal and technical in register, appearing chiefly in cryptography, military, and intelligence contexts. In modern usage, "encrypt" has largely displaced "encipher" in everyday and computing language, though "encipher" remains standard in historical and specialist discussions of classical ciphers.
Easily confused with encipher
Decipher means to convert coded text back into readable form, while encipher means to put readable text into code.