monoalphabetic
1
9.0
- adjective
- /ˌmɒnəʊˈælfəˌbɛtɪk/
- Specialized
- For beginners, a monoalphabetic substitution is an easy way to encode messages using a single alphabet.
Examples
-
There are two kinds of substitutions: monoalphabetic and polyalphabetic.
Academic text (1990) -
The Great Cipher utilized 578 numbers, whereas typical monoalphabetic substitution ciphers featured 26 letters.
Blog text (21) -
With monoalphabetic substitution, each original letter is replaced by another letter.
Academic text (1990) -
The Great Cipher was simply an enhanced version of a monoalphabetic cipher, yet it remained unbroken for over two hundred years.
Blog text (21) -
The monoalphabetic substitution cipher was becoming less secure, leading to the advent of the polyalphabetic cipher and the homophonic cipher.
Blog text (21) -
In a monoalphabetic cipher, each letter is consistently replaced with the same letter throughout the text.
-
Many early encryption methods relied on monoalphabetic techniques to keep communications secret.
Antonyms
- Specialized
1
9.8
To use more than one alphabet in a secret code to make it harder to read
How Many Alphabets
- Specialized
1
9.8
- Specialized
1
9.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
monoalphabetic = alphabetic (semi-transparent) = mono + alphabet + ic
The form is built straightforwardly from 'mono-' plus 'alphabetic', with the meaning 'single alphabet' clearly recoverable from the parts.
Etymology
Monoalphabetic comes from mono- 'one', as in the word monorail, and alphabet 'letters'. So a monoalphabetic system uses a single set of letter symbols or one replacement rule for the whole message, meaning each letter is always replaced the same way.