Coded

How to spell coded

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce coded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does coded mean?

1. adjectiveExpressed in or marked by a system of symbols, signals, or instructions rather than plain language.
2. verbWrote computer instructions, or converted information into a system of symbols.

Coded in a sentence

• adjective

  The spy passed along a coded message that only headquarters could read.

• verb

  She coded the entire login page over the weekend.

• adjective

  Each product carries a colour-coded label to show its storage temperature.

• verb

  The researchers coded every interview before analysing the results.

Where does coded come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is the inflected form of 'code', which travelled into English from the Latin codex, a word that originally meant a tree trunk or a wooden block, and then the wax-covered wooden tablets that Romans wrote on. Because such tablets were bound together into the earliest book form, codex came to mean a systematic written collection, especially a body of laws. English took the word through Old French 'code' in the 1300s for a system of laws, and over the centuries the meaning widened to any organised system of symbols, signals, or instructions. The familiar '-ed' ending is the regular Germanic suffix that English adds to make past tenses and participial adjectives, so 'coded' simply means something that has been put into, or marked with, a code. The same codex root also gives us 'codex' itself and 'codify', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps a single 'd' before the suffix.

How the word is built

• code (from Latin codex: a systematic body of writing or rules)
• -ed (past-tense / adjectival suffix)