- [uncountable, countable]
a secret way of writing, especially one in which a set of letters or symbols is used to represent others 密码；暗号 a message in cipher 密码信
- [countable] (formal, disapproving)
a person or thing of no importance 无足轻重的人；无关紧要的东西 To her employers she was a mere cipher, with no human feelings at all. 对她的雇主来说，她只是一个无名小卒，毫无人情味。
- (British English)
the first letters of somebody’s name combined in a design and used to mark things （姓名首字母的）拼合字，花押 The glasses were engraved with the Queen’s cipher. 眼镜上刻有女王的密码。
Word Originlate Middle English (in the senses ‘symbol for zero’ and ‘Arabic numeral’): from Old French cifre, based on Arabic ṣifr ‘zero’.