crypto

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crypto

/ˈkɹɪptəʊ/ UK
/ˈkɹɪptoʊ/ US

Rhymes with -ɪptəʊ

Where it comes from

All senses trace back to clippings of words derived from the prefix crypto-, developed at various times in the 20th and 21st centuries. During the 2010s and 2020s, the "cryptocurrency" sense has become the dominant sense. The "cryptography" sense predates that one; thus, a computer or math geek in earlier decades would be referring to cryptography when using this word. The "secret supporter or follower" sense is clipped from such terms as cryptofascist and cryptocommunist. The several informal senses in medicine referring to several microbe genera or the diseases they cause have existed since circa the mid-20th century.

noun cryptos

abbreviation, clipping, countable, informal, uncountable Clipping of cryptocurrency Nigeria—the world's second-largest Bitcoin market after the United States—has banned the trading of cryptocurrencies. It's triggered anger among Nigerians who see cryptos as a safe haven in a battered economy.
abbreviation, clipping, informal, uncountable Clipping of cryptography BTW, Turing's test ideas had a lot of influence (so my crypto friends tell me) on various notions in Cryptography and Complexity such as interactive proofs and zero-knowledge protocols.
countable, uncountable A secret supporter or follower. Martin of course is far too dishonest to be outright a crypto or fellow-traveller, but his main influence is pro-Russian and is certainly intended to be so, and I feel reasonably sure he would quislingise in the case of a Russian occupation, if he had not managed to get away on the last plane.
abbreviation, clipping, countable, informal, uncountable Clipping of cryptococcus
abbreviation, clipping, countable, informal, uncountable Clipping of cryptococcosis
abbreviation, clipping, countable, informal, uncountable Clipping of cryptosporidium
abbreviation, clipping, countable, informal, uncountable Clipping of cryptosporidiosis With immune system damage come the infections associated with AIDS: PCP, MAC, toxoplasmosis, crypto, meningitis, thrush, lymphomas, CM, fungal infections, and many others.

adjective more crypto · most crypto

Secret or covert.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: cypher, cipher, encrypted, cryptographic, cryptology, encrypt, cryptography, encryption, encode, encoding, map, correspondence, encrypting, cryptocrat, crypto-believer, crypto-fascist

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MLA

"crypto." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/crypto. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

crypto. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/crypto

Chicago

"crypto." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/crypto.

BibTeX

@misc{crypto_2026,
  title = {crypto},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/crypto},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}