Asymmetric cryptography (非对称式密码学 fēi duì chèn shì mì mǎ xué) or public-key cryptography, is a process using a pair of keys — one public and one private — to encrypt and decrypt a message while protecting this message from outside unauthorized access. Also see: cryptography (密码学 mì mǎ xué).
Part 1: Breakdown of Words
- “非” (fēi) as in “very” (非常 fēi cháng), “outstanding” (非凡 fēi fán), or “not only” (非但 fēi dàn).
- “Symmetric” (对称 duì chèn) as in “symmetric distribution” (对称分布 duì chèn fēn bù), or “axial symmetric” (轴对称 zhóu duì chèn), or “symmetric matrix” (对称矩阵 duì chèn jǔ zhèn).
- The term asymmetric (非对称 fēi duì chèn) is the antonym of symmetric. “非” (fēi) in Chinese phrases is often equal to the prefixes “non-” or “a-“. Another common “Chinese prefixes” with a similar meaning is “不” (bù).
- The character “式” (shì) as in “type” (款式 kuǎn shì), or “formula” (公式 gōng shì).
- “Cryptography” (密码学 mì mǎ xué) as in “cryptanalysis” (密码学分析 mì mǎ xué fēn xī). In this case, “学” (xué) is a sign meaning “discipline” (学科 xué kē). One similar example is “经济学” (jīng jì xué), which means “economics”.