scytale

English · Français

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

scytale

/ˈsɪtəliː/
/ˈskɪt-/

Where it comes from

From Latin scytale (“cylinder used for encoding and decoding”), from Ancient Greek σκυτάλη (skutálē, “club, baton, cylinder used for encoding and decoding”).

noun scytales · skytale

historical A cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which a message is written, used for cryptography by the ancient Spartans. But, being perſwaded that they would not hear any propoſal to that effect, he delivered each of them a ſcytale, or ſtaff on which the Lacedemonians wrote their ſecret letters, and with theſe diſpatch’d them home to the Ephori.

Translations

Every language

noun Translations

Ελληνικά	σκυτάλη skytáli

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"scytale." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/scytale. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

scytale. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/scytale

Chicago

"scytale." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/scytale.

BibTeX

@misc{scytale_2026,
  title = {scytale},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/scytale},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}