cryptogram
nounEtymology From crypto- + -gram.
1
Encrypted text.
- It's a big help in solving cryptograms if you know how a cryptogram is constructed. The constructor normally uses two alphabets, one for plaintext, one for the substitute cipher letters.1981, Norma Gleason, Cryptograms and Spygrams, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 7:
- To anyone who does not know the key, the five characters of the cryptogram are different but the genuine receiver is in no danger of confusion.2002, Fred Piper, Sean Murphy, Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 35:
1 more example
- Indeed, Willaert was unable to read Charles's musical notation because it was actually a musical cryptogram passing for a madrigal, making absolutely no sense to a mere musician's naked eye, despite his towering talent.2019, Ioanna Iordanou, Venice's Secret Service: Organizing Intelligence in the Renaissance, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 139:
2
Games A type of word puzzle in which text encoded by a simple cipher is to be decoded.
- You already know this if you are an amateur codebreaker. On the comics pages of many newspapers, you will find a little puzzle known as a cryptogram. It's usually a famous quotation that has been encrypted in a very straightforward way […]2007, Charles Seife, Decoding the Universe, Penguin, →ISBN:
- Derived terms
- cryptogrammic, cryptogrammist