decipher
to discover the meaning of something obscure or unreadable
TRANSLATION
decipher = entschlüsseln, entziffern, herausfinden --- GOOGLE INDEX decipher: approximately 13,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Thanks to the new, advanced imaging technology, scientists in Naples, Italy have begun to DECIPHER the first lines of two scrolls.
(Time magazine)
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You have to DECIPHER the clues of the markets, assessing a change in the demand/supply equation.
(Forbes magazine)
(Time magazine)
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You have to DECIPHER the clues of the markets, assessing a change in the demand/supply equation.
(Forbes magazine)
Did you
know?
decipher
verb
- to convert from a code or cipher to plaintext
- to discover the meaning of something obscure or unreadable
(Collins Dictionary)
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During World War II, Nazi Germany relied on a machine called the Enigma to encode secret messages. This machine was originally developed at the end of World War I by Arthur Scherbius. The name enigma derives from the Latin aenigma, meaning a riddle. Although difficult to crack, the World War II Allies eventually deciphered Enigma, an event that sped up the end of the war.
Decipher can be used in a literal sense, such as when archaeologists or scientists figure out how to translate ancient scrolls or when a hacker discovers how to read encrypted computer communications to break into a computer system. Decipher can also be utilized figuratively to describe understanding something (It took a while, but I finally deciphered what he meant).
The term decipher is ultimately from an Arabic source (sifr) that meant "zero, nothing, empty," by way of the Latin "cifra" and Old French "cifre," both of which also meant zero. The modern French "chiffre" and the German "Ziffer," number or secret number, also stem from this source.
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SYNONYMS
crack, decode, decrypt, deduce, figure out, interpret, solve, unravel
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Can you help? I can't decipher the operating instructions for my mobile phone."
verb
- to convert from a code or cipher to plaintext
- to discover the meaning of something obscure or unreadable
(Collins Dictionary)
---
During World War II, Nazi Germany relied on a machine called the Enigma to encode secret messages. This machine was originally developed at the end of World War I by Arthur Scherbius. The name enigma derives from the Latin aenigma, meaning a riddle. Although difficult to crack, the World War II Allies eventually deciphered Enigma, an event that sped up the end of the war.
Decipher can be used in a literal sense, such as when archaeologists or scientists figure out how to translate ancient scrolls or when a hacker discovers how to read encrypted computer communications to break into a computer system. Decipher can also be utilized figuratively to describe understanding something (It took a while, but I finally deciphered what he meant).
The term decipher is ultimately from an Arabic source (sifr) that meant "zero, nothing, empty," by way of the Latin "cifra" and Old French "cifre," both of which also meant zero. The modern French "chiffre" and the German "Ziffer," number or secret number, also stem from this source.
---
SYNONYMS
crack, decode, decrypt, deduce, figure out, interpret, solve, unravel
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Can you help? I can't decipher the operating instructions for my mobile phone."
