Cryptography (密码学)

Cryptography (密码学 mì mǎ xué) refers to the practice and study of techniques for securing communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries.

Part 1: Breakdown of Words

• “Crypto-” (加密 jiā mì; 加 jiā, to augment; 密 mì, to conceal).
  • “密” (mì) as in “password” (密码 mì mǎ), “secret” (秘密 mì mì), or “dense” (密集 mì jí).
  • “码” (mǎ) as in “dock” (码头 mǎ tóu), or “code” (代码 dài mǎ).
• “学” (xué) refers to a subject of study, as in “Astronomy” (天文学 tiān wén xué) and “Biology” (生物学 shēng wù xué).

Part 2: Examples

1. Classical cryptography (经典密码学 jīng diǎn mì mǎ xué).
2. Elliptic curve cryptography (椭圆曲线密码学 tuǒ yuán qǔ xiàn mì mǎ xué).
3. Quantum cryptography (量子密码学 liàng zǐ mì mǎ xué).
4. Asymmetric cryptography (非对称式密码学 fēi duì chèng shì mì mǎ xué).
5. Post-quantum cryptography (后量子密码学 hòu liàng zǐ mì mǎ xué).