cryptosystem

noun

cryp·​to·​sys·​tem ˌkrip-tō-ˈsi-stəm How to pronounce cryptosystem (audio)
: a method for encoding and decoding messages

Examples of cryptosystem in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Here’s one example why: Modern finance—our entire economic system, really—relies on public-key cryptosystems that are essentially unbreakable. David M. Ewalt, Scientific American, 19 May 2026 Quantum computing, with algorithms like Shor’s and Grover’s, promises to render many of these cryptosystems obsolete in a single step of computing evolution. Morey Haber, Forbes.com, 24 Mar. 2026 Monday’s update bundles new post-quantum computing algorithms selected by the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in its yearslong drive to find replacements for RSA and elliptic-curve cryptosystems. ArsTechnica, 20 May 2025 The fear is that, sometime down the road, a fault-tolerant quantum computer will be used to break existing cryptosystems. Kazuhiro Gomi, Forbes, 19 Apr. 2023 In one foul swoop, Shor’s work raised the prospect that any public key cryptosystem could be cracked by a quantum computer in future. Discover Magazine, 10 Jan. 2023 The secure McEliece cryptosystem is named after its inventor. IEEE Spectrum, 13 June 2019

Word History

Etymology

crypto- + system

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cryptosystem was in 1949

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Cite this Entry

“Cryptosystem.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptosystem. Accessed 31 May. 2026.

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