Etymology Explorer › Polish

Where does “szyfr” come from?

szyfr (Polish) comes from Russian шифровка, from Russian шифровать, from Russian шифр, from French chiffre, from Italian cifra, from Medieval Latin cifra, from Arabic صِفْر, from Sanskrit शून्य.

Ancestry of “szyfr”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Russianшифровка—
2Russianшифроватьto encrypt, to encode
3Russianшифрcipher, code
4Frenchchiffrea digit i.e. 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9; a number;...
5Italiancifrafigure, numeral; sum; code, cipher
6Medieval Latincifrazero, numeral; numeral, cipher; zero
7Arabicصِفْرzero, nothing, empty, void; nothing, cipher;...
8Sanskritशून्यzero; cipher, cypher; blank, deserted
9Proto-Indo-EuropeanḱówH-—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ḱówH- →