What does enciphering mean?
Enciphering is the act of converting ordinary, readable text into cipher — a disguised form whose meaning can be recovered only by someone holding the correct key or method. It sits at the heart of classical cryptography, describing what cryptographers do when they systematically substitute or rearrange letters to protect secrets. The term appears most often in technical, military, and historical writing, as in "the enciphering of wartime communications." In everyday speech and modern computing, "encryption" has largely taken its place, giving "enciphering" a slightly formal, old-fashioned register associated with codebooks, cipher machines, and hand-worked systems. The word derives from "encipher," formed with the prefix "en-" ("to put into") plus "cipher," which itself descends through medieval Latin and French from Arabic ṣifr, meaning "empty" or "zero." Understanding "enciphering" therefore connects two rich histories at once: the science of secret writing and the surprising story of how the concept of nothing became one of mathematics' most powerful ideas.
nounThe action or process of converting a message into cipher; the transformation of plain text into coded form to conceal its meaning.
- The act or process of converting plain text into cipher or coded form to hide its meaning from unauthorized readers.
"The enciphering of diplomatic dispatches was handled by a dedicated team of cryptographers."
"Careful enciphering of the naval signals prevented enemy interception from revealing the fleet's position."
"Early telegraph operators relied on manual enciphering, substituting each letter according to a shared key."
The word 'cipher' traces all the way back to Arabic ṣifr, meaning 'empty' — the very same root that gave us 'zero,' so every time a message was enciphered, it was literally being turned into 'nothings.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of enciphering
Enciphering derives from the verb "encipher," formed in English from the prefix "en-" ("to cause to be in") combined with "cipher," a noun borrowed into English in the sixteenth century from French chiffre, ultimately from Medieval Latin cifra, which came from Arabic ṣifr, meaning "empty" or "zero." Because Arabic numerals, including zero, were once regarded as mysterious symbols known only to the initiated, "cipher" came to mean any secret or puzzling system of characters, and hence a method of disguised writing. The same Arabic root also produced the word "zero" by a separate route through Italian, making "cipher" and "zero" true cognates.
Related word forms
How enciphering is actually used
"Enciphering" is a somewhat formal, technical term used chiefly in cryptography and military contexts; "encryption" has largely displaced it in everyday and computing usage, so "enciphering" now often carries a historical or classical-cryptography flavor.
Easily confused with enciphering
Encrypting is the broader modern term for securing data with cryptographic algorithms, while enciphering specifically refers to converting text into cipher form.
Deciphering is the reverse process of enciphering — converting coded text back into readable plain text.