cryptology

From crypto- +‎ -logy, from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɹɪpˈtɒl.ə.dʒi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /kɹɪpˈtɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/
• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

cryptology (usually uncountable, plural cryptologies)

1. The science or study of mathematical, linguistic, and other coding patterns and histories.
2. The practice of analysing encoded messages, in order to decode them.
3. Secret or enigmatical language.
   • 1991, English Studies:

     But the question of speech-play causes confusion to the slang researcher because this subject borders on family slang, private lingo, secret language, cryptologies, disguised language of children and grown-ups

An umbrella term for cryptography and cryptanalysis.

• cryptography, cryptanalysis, ciphertext, plaintext, cleartext, code, key
• Appendix:Glossary of cryptography