Encipherer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who specializes in the process of converting readable text into a coded format to ensure secure communication
2. A person tasked with the encoding of information to prevent unauthorized interpretation during transmission
3. A professional who transforms plain text into a coded version to maintain confidentiality and protect against unauthorized access

Etymology: "Encipherer" is a plain formation: the verb "encipher," meaning to convert a message into cipher, with the agent suffix "-er" added to name the person who does it. The suffix is one of English's most productive, attached for centuries to verbs to name people who perform an action, as in "writer," "baker," or "reader." The result is a transparent word whose parts tell you exactly what it means. The verb "encipher" is itself built from "cipher" with the prefix "en-," which turns a noun into a verb meaning to put into or make into that thing. "Cipher" traces back through Old French and medieval Latin to the Arabic "sifr," meaning zero, the same root that gave English "zero." So an encipherer, at the deepest level, is someone who turns text into a form that hides it behind a symbol originally meaning nothing.

Synonyms: encoder