Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Cryptanalysis
/ˌkrɪptəˈnæləsɪs/noun
The work of reading encrypted messages without being given the key.
The Greek roots
κρυπτός
kryptós
hidden, concealed
ἀνάλυσις
análysis
a loosening, undoing
Literally: “undoing of the hidden”
The story of the word
William Friedman coined the term in 1920 while running codebreaking for the US Army, wanting a word that separated attacking a cipher from making one. ἀνάλυσις is Homer's word for Penelope undoing her weaving each night, a thread-by-thread unpicking that describes the job well. The oldest surviving manual on the subject is al-Kindi's ninth-century treatise on frequency analysis.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1920
Same family
cryptographycryptanalysisapocalypse
In a sentence
Careless repetition in the opening lines gave the cryptanalysis team its way in.