cipher

[mimi2]

Hi,
“Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all.”
Is “cipher” a verb in this context? How could I understand it. I looked it up in the dictionary, it means “zero”. Could I understand it like this way?
Thank you very much.

 

[Dimcl]

Hi,
“Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all.”
Is “cipher” a verb in this context? How could I understand it. I looked it up in the dictionary, it means “zero”. Could I understand it like this way?
Thank you very much.

Hi Mimi. "Cipher" in this context is a very old-fashioned way of saying he could do arithmetic.

 

[mimi2]

Ah, Thank you, Dimcl, very much.
I am very glad to meet you.

 

[TheAmzngTwinWndr]

Dimcl's explanation sounds correct.

But just for your own knowledge, when you hear "cipher" today it usually means a type of puzzle (like a code a military might use for communication) and to "decipher" the puzzle means to solve it.

 

[GreenWhiteBlue]

Dimcl's explanation "sounds correct" because it is correct. In this context (and it IS this context that we are concerned about), to "cipher" means to add and subtract, although it can include multiplying and dividing as well -- that is, to perform the most basic functions of arithmetic.