⭐ A many-sided shape 🔐 A letter group

polygram

9.9

A group of letters used as one unit in a secret code

noun
/ˈpɒlɪˌɡræm/

Specialized

: poligramo

A polygram cipher replaces groups of letters rather than single characters, making it harder to decode.

Examples

By analyzing the frequency of each polygram, the team uncovered patterns in the secret communication.
The cryptanalyst identified a polygram in the encoded message to help break the cipher.
A polygram can represent multiple letters in a cipher.
The polygrams used in this encryption are complex.
The cryptanalyst identified a polygram in the encoded message to help break the cipher.
A polygram cipher replaces groups of letters rather than single characters, making it harder to decode.
By analyzing the frequency of each polygram, the team uncovered patterns in the secret communication.

How Many-Letters

polygram

Specialized

9.9

trigram

Specialized

7.2

digraph

Specialized

7.2

Surface Forms

polygram singular

polygrams plural

Morphology

polygram = gram (opaque) = poly + gram

The cryptographic sense is formally compositional, but the specialized meaning of a unit of letters or symbols is not obvious to an average learner.

Etymology

Polygram comes from the Greek parts poly- 'many' and -gram 'written thing' or 'letter', the same -gram you see in anagram. So in secret codes a polygram is a group of letters treated as one unit to make a cipher harder to read.