cryptograph

American  

[krip-tuh-graf, -grahf] / ˈkrɪp təˌgræf, -ˌgrɑf /

noun

1. cryptogram.

2. a system of secret writing; cipher.

3. a device for translating clear text into cipher.

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cryptograph British  

/ -ˌɡrɑːf, ˈkrɪptəʊˌɡræf /

noun

1. something written in code or cipher

2. a code using secret symbols ( cryptograms )

3. a device for translating text into cipher, or vice versa

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Etymology

Origin of cryptograph

First recorded in 1635–45; crypto- + -graph

Example Sentences

A cryptograph used to manually code and decode messages—technology that was decades out-of-date by 2000.

From Slate • May 9, 2018

There are the cherished baths, where Dilly solved his cryptograph ic riddles and Eddie planned the next week's Punch.

From Time Magazine Archive

As he did, the word cryptograph, a few paragraphs below, flashed into his vision like a red traffic light.

From Time Magazine Archive

I declare it puts me in mind of a cryptograph," he cried, "unless, indeed, the letters have been written without any real meaning; and yet why take so much trouble?

From A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Verne, Jules

Solving a cryptograph is like doing a mathematical problem, and Poe was very clever at it.

From Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor A Book for Young Americans by Cody, Sherwin

Related Words

• cipher