decipher

English

Alternative forms

• decypher

Etymology

As decypher, but not retaining the y from the Old French etyma of cipher (cyfre, cyffre); the i spelling tends to be preferred etymologically, being consistent with its cognates, the French déchiffrer and the Italian decifrare, and with their common ancestor, the Medieval Latin cifra, cifera, ciphra. By surface analysis, de- +‎ cipher.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsaɪfə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪfə(ɹ)

Verb

decipher (third-person singular simple present deciphers, present participle deciphering, simple past and past participle deciphered)

1. (transitive) To convert a code or cipher to plain text.

   Synonyms: decode, decrypt, uncode (rare)

   Antonyms: encipher, encode, encrypt

   Coordinate terms: recipher, recode

2. (transitive) To read text that is almost illegible or obscure
3. (transitive) To make sense of a complex situation.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 13:

     Truly, we need human infirmity to teach us human nature, and that to Louis had been as a sealed book; he had only seen the coloured and gilded outside: too late he had to decipher the rough and gloomy page within.

4. (transitive) To find a solution to a problem.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• decipherability
• decipherable
• decipherment
• indecipherability
• indecipherable
• undecipherable

Translations

to decode or decrypt a code or cipher

• Azerbaijani: şifrini açmaq
• Bulgarian: дешифрирам (bg) (dešifriram)
• Catalan: desxifrar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 解碼／解码 (zh) (jiěmǎ), 解讀／解读 (zh) (jiědú)

• Czech: rozluštit
• Danish: dechifrere, afkode
• Dutch: ontcijferen (nl)
• Esperanto: malĉifri
• Finnish: purkaa (fi), murtaa (fi), avata (viesti)
• French: déchiffrer (fr)
• German: dechiffrieren (de), entschlüsseln (de)
• Greek: αποκρυπτογραφώ (el) (apokryptografó)
• Icelandic: dulráða
• Japanese: 解読する (ja) (かいどくする, kaidoku suru)
• Kazakh: дешифрлеу (deşifrleu)
• Korean: 해독(解讀)하다 (haedokhada)
• Luxembourgish: dechiffréieren
• Polish: rozszyfrowywać impf, rozszyfrować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: decifrar (pt)
• Russian: расшифро́вывать (ru) impf (rasšifróvyvatʹ), расшифрова́ть (ru) pf (rasšifrovátʹ)
• Spanish: descifrar (es), decodificar (es)
• Swedish: dechiffrera (sv), avkoda (sv), dekryptera (sv), läsa (sv), tyda (sv)
• Turkish: deşifre etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: розшифро́вувати impf (rozšyfróvuvaty), розшифрува́ти pf (rozšyfruváty)

to read illegible or obscure text

• Bulgarian: разчитам (bg) (razčitam)
• Catalan: desxifrar (ca)
• Finnish: tavata (fi)
• German: entziffern (de)
• Greek: αποκρυπτογραφώ (el) (apokryptografó)
• Polish: rozszyfrowywać impf, rozszyfrować (pl) pf
• Spanish: descifrar (es), interpretar (es)
• Swedish: läsa (sv), tyda (sv), dechiffrera (sv)

to find a solution

• Finnish: ratkaista (fi)
• German: entschlüsseln (de)
• Portuguese: decifrar (pt), resolver (pt)
• Spanish: resolver (es), descifrar (es)

Noun

decipher (plural deciphers)

1. A decipherment; a decoding.
   • 1837, Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington, John Gurwood, The Dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, K.G.:

     I enclose a letter which I received yesterday evening from the Marques de Monsalud, containing the decipher of a letter from the King to the Comte d'Erlon. I wish that the Marques had sent the ciphered letter here […]

Anagrams

• ciphered