Cryptograph

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A message or text converted into a secret code or cipher ; a person who writes or composes messages in cryptic form
2. Writing that has been scrambled into an unintelligible code to conceal its meaning ; someone who creates or writes secret encoded communications
3. Text transformed into concealed symbols or characters that obscure its content ; an individual who specializes in composing or writing in hidden or coded language

Etymology: "Cryptograph" is built from "crypto-," from Greek "kryptos," meaning "hidden," and "-graph," from Greek "graphein," meaning "to write." Put together, the name describes writing in a concealed form, which is exactly what a message encoded in secret script does. The word is a straightforward compound of these two Greek elements, so its sense has stayed close to its parts. The first half, "crypto-," is the more productive of the two, appearing in English words such as "cryptic" and "cryptography." "Kryptos" comes from a verb meaning "to conceal," and the same root gives English "crypt," a hidden underground chamber. The second half, "-graph," shows up in a long list of words for things that write, record or draw, such as "telegraph" and "photograph."

Synonyms: cipher, code