cipher

Word family

Related topics: Maths

1 [countableC, uncountableU] formalSECRET a system of secret writing 密码；暗号 SYN code

an expert in ciphers

密码专家

messages written in cipher

用密码写的信息

2 UNIMPORTANT[countableC] someone who is not important and has no power or influence 无足轻重[无权无势]的人

At work, she was a cipher, a functionary, nothing more.

在工作上她是个无足轻重的人，一名普通职员，仅此而已。

3. HM[countableC] literary the number 0 〔数字〕零 SYN zero

Examples from the Corpus

cipher• No one is a cipher, and Maloney tries to give his subjects a character, a singular demeanour and poise.• When I felt outrage was I simply a cipher for cultural prejudice?• He was a cipher to me, a silent man of abstracted benevolence, and I never got to know him well.• The embassy was ordered to destroy its cipher equipment and remaining codes.• The women are strong characters, but the men in this movie are mere ciphers.• The first would be to protect Britain's own secrets by developing the necessary cipher machines, codes and operating procedures.• One bears the Romanov double-headed eagle, another the cipher of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth.• A pair of rock crystal goblets engraved with the cipher of Peter the Great.

Origin cipher

(1300-1400) Old French cifre, from Medieval Latin cifra, from Arabic sifr “empty, zero”

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus

TOEFL BNC: 22793 COCA: 22546

cipher

Codes and codification: alphanumeric, break, CAPTCHA...

Unimportant person or people: nonentity, lightweight, mediocrity...