Kilo Lingo

/desθiˈfɾaɾ/

Line drawing of descifrar
Coloured illustration of descifrar
#4272 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to decipher, to decode, to work out

Word origin

From des- ('un-, reverse of') plus cifrar ('to encode'), from cifra ('figure, cipher'), which came through Arabic sifr ('zero, empty') into the Romance languages.

Origin
Arabic
Root
sifr
English cognates
cipher, decipher

Grammar

Verb type-ar regular (1st group)

Examples

.

I cannot decipher his handwriting.

expertos .

The experts managed to decode the secret message.

¿ cartel?

Can you work out what this sign says?

Tardó escritura.

It took years to decipher that ancient writing.

.

I am trying to work out what she means by that.

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This word is part of lesson 86.