Cipher vs Key - What's the difference?
cipher | key |
A numeric character.
Any text character.
* Sir Walter Raleigh
A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name; a device; a monogram.
A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.
* Bishop Burnet
(cryptography) A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters]] or sequences of [[bit, bits into ciphertext.
Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher .
A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods:
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
(obsolete) Zero.
(regional, dated) To calculate.
* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. IX, ''Abbot Samson
An object designed to open and close a lock.
* , chapter=13
, title= An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
A crucial step or requirement.
* (John Locke) (1632-1705)
* (1809-1892)
A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.
A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
(label) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
(label) One of a number of rectangular moving parts on a piano or musical keyboard, each causing a particular sound or note to be produced.
(label) One of various levers on a musical instrument used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
(label) A hierarchical scale of musical notes on which a composition is based.
* 1881 , R.L. Stevenson, :
(label) The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
* (William Cowper) (1731-1800)
(label) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
(label) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
(label) A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
(label) A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
* 2000 , "Robert Erdec", Re: Help; mIRC32; unable to resolve server arnes.si'' (on newsgroup ''alt.irc.mirc )
(label) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
(label) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in an associative array.
(label) The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.
(label) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
(label) Kilogram (though this is more commonly shortened to kay ).
* 2010 , David J. Silas, Da Block (page 41)
(label) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
(label) The last board of a floor when laid down.
(label) A keystone.
That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
(rail transport) A wooden support for a rail on the bullhead rail system.
(label) The object used to open or close a lock, often used as a heraldic charge.
Indispensable, supremely important.
* 2007 , Mark H. Moss, Shopping as an Entertainment Experience (page 46)
Important, salient.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
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, chapter=2 * {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=September 29
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To fit (a lock) with a key.
To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
* 1996 January, Garden Dsign Ideas , second printing, (Taunton Press), ISBN 1561580791, page 25,
* 2001 , Bruce M. Metzger, The Bible in Translation , ISBN 0801022827, page 87,
* 2002 , Karen Bromley, Stretching Students' Vocabulary , ISBN 0439288398, page 12,
* 2007 , Stephen Blake Mettee, Michelle Doland and Doris Hall, compilers, The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines , 6th ("2007–2008") edition, ISBN 1884956580, page 757,
(telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).
(radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
(computing) (more usually to key in ) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
(colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.
To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
* 1960 , Richard L. Masland, "Classification of the Epilepsies", in Epilepsia , volume 1, page 516,
* '>citation
* '>citation
(intransitive, biology, chiefly, taxonomy) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
In cryptography terms the difference between cipher and key
is that cipher is a cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into ciphertext while key is a piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.In lang=en terms the difference between cipher and key
is that cipher is a fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed while key is to operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).As nouns the difference between cipher and key
is that cipher is a numeric character while key is an object designed to open and close a lock.As verbs the difference between cipher and key
is that cipher is to calculate while key is to fit (a lock) with a key.As an adjective key is
indispensable, supremely important.As a proper noun Key is
{{surname}.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)- This wisdom began to be written in ciphers and characters and letters bearing the forms of creatures.
- a painter's cipher''', an engraver's '''cipher , etc.
- The message was written in a simple cipher . Anyone could figure it out.
- His father engaged him when he was very young to write all his letters to England in cipher .
- The message is clearly a cipher , but I can't figure it out.
- The probability is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000 — a number having five ciphers of zeros.
- Here he was a mere cipher .
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, zeroDerived terms
* ciphertext * cypherpunk * cypherparty * decipher * encipherCitations
Verb
(en verb)- I never learned much more than how to read and cipher .
- 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.
key
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) keye, kaye, . For the semantic development, note that medieval keys were simply long poles (ending in a hook) with which a crossbar obstructing a door from the inside could be removed from the outside, by lifting it through a hole in the door.Noun
(en noun)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.}}
- Those who are accustomed to reason have got the true key of books.
- who keeps the keys of all the creeds
- A girl, it is true, has always lived in a glass house among reproving relatives, whose word was law; she has been bred up to sacrifice her judgments and take the key submissively from dear papa; and it is wonderful how swiftly she can change her tune into the husband's.
- You fall at once into a lower key .
- if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key .
- So starting with ten keys' of cocaine and two ' keys of heroin, Derrick put his plan in motion. Soon every major drug dealer and gang chief from Chicago Avenue to Evanston was in his pocket.
Derived terms
(Derived terms) * candidate key * card key * church key * foreign key * keyboard * keycard * key card * keychain, key chain * key fob, keyfob * keyhole * keynote * keypad * keyring, key ring * key signature * keystone * keystroke * keyword * major key * minor key * Morse key * primary key * public-key cryptography * skeleton key * unique keySee also
* clef * scale * (wikipedia "key") *Adjective
(en adjective)- He is the key player on his soccer team.
- Lukas intimates that one of Disney's key attractions was "Main Street USA,” which "mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale" had done.
- She makes several key points.
citation, passage=Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.}}
citation, page= , passage=With the north London derby to come at the weekend, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest many of his key players, although he brought back Aaron Lennon after a month out through injury.}}
Usage notes
The first meaning is distinguished by the definite article, as seen in the quotations.Verb
(en verb)- So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.
- The volume closes with thirty pages of "Notes, critical and explanatory," in which Thomson provides seventy-six longer or shorter notes keyed to specific sections of the synopsis.
- Talk about similarities between the words and write them below to the left of the anchor, keying' them with a plus sign (+). Talk about the characteristics that set the words apart and list them below the box to the right, ' keying them with a tilde sign (~).
- Indicate the comparative value of each heading by keying it with a number in pencil, in the left margin, as follows:
- Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.
- He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.
- The American Heart Association has prepared their own guide to classification and, keying it with the Standard Nomenclature of Diseases , have done much to encourage a concise yet complete diagnosis.
- (Francis)