shiftcipher
nounUK /ˈʃɪftˌsaɪfə/
US /ˈʃɪftˌsaɪfər/
A shift cipher is a secret code that moves each letter a few steps in the alphabet.
We used a shift cipher to hide our message by moving every letter three places forward.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A cipher where each letter is replaced by another letter a fixed number of positions away.
The shift cipher turned A into D when the key was three.
3. A basic encryption method often used to teach the idea of secret codes.
The teacher explained a shift cipher before moving on to harder ciphers.
4. A code that can be broken by trying all possible shifts.
Because it has only twenty-five keys, a shift cipher is easy to crack.