Definition:
A word or name that is secretly used to refer to a particular person, place, activity, or thing; a code word or name.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "hidden" + "name"Examples and Observations:
- "'Reinhard' was the cryptonym for the German plan to exterminate the Jews of Poland."
(Michał Grynberg, Words To Outlive Us: Voices From the Warsaw Ghetto. Macmillan, 2002) - "The Oval Office's next occupant opted for this moniker [Renegade] after being presented with a list of names beginning with the letter 'R.' As custom dictates, the rest of his family's code names will be alliterative: wife Michelle is known as 'Renaissance'; daughters Malia and Sasha are 'Radiance' and 'Rosebud,' respectively."
("Renegade: President-elect Barack Obama." Time magazine, November 2008) - "The Farm was known officially by the cryptonym ISOLATION. The names of places and operations were a special language in the Agency."
(Don DeLillo, Libra. Viking, 1988) - "'Flower' was the overall top-secret code-name designator given to anti-Qaddafi operations and plans. Only about two dozen officials, including the President and Casey, were given access.
"Under Flower, 'Tulip' was the code name for a CIA covert operation designed to topple Qaddafi by supporting anti-Qaddafi exile movements."
(Bob Woodward, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. Simon and Schuster, 2005)
Pronunciation: KRIP-te-nim
Also Known As: code name
