differences - Cipher vs. Cypher


I recently came across a (not very well written) piece of writing in which "cipher" and "cypher" were used interchangeably. Is there any difference between them, or are they two spellings of the exact same word? If so, is it similar to the difference between the words "gray" and "grey", where one is more common in a certain geographic area?



Answer



The Oxford Dictionary gives both cipher and cypher in that order.


The preference for cipher over cypher seems to be a little greater in American English than in British English. The Corpus of Contemporary American English has just over three times as many records for cipher than it has for cypher. The British National Corpus has only one and a half times as many. It would not occur to me, as a speaker of British English, to use anything other than cypher.


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