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Decoding vs Cipher - What's the difference?

decoding | cipher |

As nouns the difference between decoding and cipher

is that decoding is an instance of the translation of something into a form more suitable for subsequent processing while cipher is a numeric character.

As verbs the difference between decoding and cipher

is that decoding is present participle of lang=en while cipher is to calculate.

decoding

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An instance of the translation of something into a form more suitable for subsequent processing.

    • Verb

    (head)

    • cipher

    English

    Alternative forms

    * cypher, less common than cipher but still in use in English. see The Ultra Secret by 's series of Cyphers (Nr 1, Nr 2, Nr 3, ...) before and into WWII.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A numeric character.
  • Any text character.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • This wisdom began to be written in ciphers and characters and letters bearing the forms of creatures.
  • A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name; a device; a monogram.
    • a painter's cipher''', an engraver's '''cipher , etc.
  • A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.
    • The message was written in a simple cipher . Anyone could figure it out.
  • * Bishop Burnet
    • His father engaged him when he was very young to write all his letters to England in cipher .
  • (cryptography) A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters]] or sequences of [[bit, bits into ciphertext.
  • Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher .
    • The message is clearly a cipher , but I can't figure it out.
  • A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods:
    • The probability is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000 — a number having five ciphers of zeros.
  • A design of interlacing initials: a decorative design consisting of a set of interlaced initials.
  • (music) A fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed.
  • A hip-hop jam session [http://www.rapdict.org/Cipher]
  • The path (usually circular) shared cannabis takes through a group, an occasion of cannabis smoking.
  • Someone or something of no importance.
  • * Washington Irving
    • Here he was a mere cipher .
  • (obsolete) Zero.

    • Synonyms

    * (numeric character) number, numeral * (method for concealing the meaning of text) code * (cryptographic system using an algorithm) * (ciphertext) * * (design of interlacing initials) monogram * (fault in an organ valve causing a pipe to sound continuously) * (hip-hop jam session) * (path that shared cannabis takes through a group) * (someone or something of no importance) (person): nobody, nonentity; (thing) nonentity, nothing, nullity * naught/nought, nothing, oh, zero

    Derived terms

    * ciphertext * cypherpunk * cypherparty * decipher * encipher

    Related terms

    * zero

    Citations

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (regional, dated) To calculate.
    • I never learned much more than how to read and cipher .
  • * 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. IX, ''Abbot Samson
    • For the mischief that one blockhead, that every blockhead does, in a world so feracious, teeming with endless results as ours, no ciphering will sum up.