cipher

nounfeminine/ˈsifɾɐ/medium

ci·fra

Definitions

1A secret or disguised way of writing; a code.

The document was encoded using a military cipher. / He spent years trying to crack the ancient cipher.

syn

ant

Common collocations

cipher codebreak a ciphersubstitution cipher

2An amount of money expressed in numbers.

The final figure for the project was within budget. / He quoted a figure that seemed too high.

syn

Common collocations

sales figurerecord figurereach a figure

Do árabe 'ṣifr' (zero, vazio), através do latim medieval 'cifra'.