Code

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /kəʊd/

Definitions

1. A system of symbols, letters, or rules used to represent information or instructions in a standardized form
2. A system consisting of symbols, rules, or letters that convey information or directives in a consistent manner
3. A structured approach of symbols, letters, or directives used to represent information or operate systems effectively

Etymology: The word descends from the Latin "caudex," which originally meant the trunk or stem of a tree. Roman writers also used it for a block of wood coated with wax and written on, so a stump of timber came to stand for the writing surface itself and then for a book. Later Latin reshaped the spelling to "codex," and that form is what gives English its doublet "codex," the term for an early bound book. The sense of "system of law" arrived through Old French "code," which took the Latin word for a book of laws and carried it into Middle English. Over time the meaning widened from a body of rules to any set of symbols or instructions that stands for something else. That is how a tree trunk, via a wax tablet and a legal volume, ended up describing the instructions that run a computer.

Synonyms: cipher, program, protocol, system, language

Antonyms: decipher, interpret, explain, unravel, clarify