For a word having to do with secrets, cryptography has a surprisingly transparent origin. The word comes from Greek kryptós, meaning "hidden" or "secret," and graphein, meaning "to write." Besides the familiar related words of the same origin, such as cryptic, there is krypton, the name of a colorless gaseous element used especially in some fluorescent lamps and photography flashes. The name was chosen because the gas is rare and hard to find.
Examples of cryptography in a Sentence
Companies often use cryptography to protect private information.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Other cryptography used by Helios allows each voter to confirm their ballot was counted fairly.—ArsTechnica, 22 Nov. 2025 That will eventually pose a threat to Bitcoin and any other system that relies on cryptography for security, because quantum computers will be able to rip through their complicated encryption easily.—Jim Edwards, Fortune, 19 Nov. 2025 Experts believe quantum computing could lead to breakthroughs in fields like cryptography, finance, science and transportation, and IBM says the technology could solve some problems in minutes or hours that would typically take non-quantum standard computers thousands of years.—Lisa Eadicicco, CNN Money, 12 Nov. 2025 Their system uses quantum-resistant cryptography or Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), incorporating that into existing EVM blockchains, to protect data, while a decentralized consensus mechanism validates the security of every device in the network.—Wyles Daniel, USA Today, 3 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for cryptography
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from New Latin cryptographia, from crypto-crypto- + -graphia-graphy
Note:
New Latin cryptographia was perhaps first used by the Limburg-born philologist Erycius Puteanus (Eric de Put, Eric van den Putte, 1574-1646) in "Cryptographia epistolica, sive de clandestina scriptione," an addendum to his Epistolarum reliquiae centuria V (Leuven/Louvain, 1612). An apparently more widely circulated work using the word was Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae libri IX (Lüneburg, 1624) by Gustavus Selenus, pseudonym of Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1579-1666).
Share