(かいどく)

かいどく
noun, suru-verb
deciphering, decoding
1. deciphering, decoding, reading and interpreting
The act of reading and interpreting something difficult to understand, such as coded messages, ancient scripts, illegible handwriting, or complex data. Implies effort and skill in extracting meaning from something not immediately comprehensible.
暗号(あんごう)解読(かいどく)する。
To decipher a code.
古代(こだい)文字(もじ)解読(かいどく)成功(せいこう)した。
They succeeded in deciphering the ancient script.
DNA情報(じょうほう)解読(かいどく)によって、(あたら)しい治療法(ちりょうほう)開発(かいはつ)された。
New treatments were developed through the decoding of DNA information.

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • 暗号(あんごう)解読(かいどく)する: to decipher a code/cipher
  • 古文書(こもんじょ)解読(かいどく)する: to decipher old documents
  • 解読(かいどく)成功(せいこう)する: to succeed in deciphering
  • 解読(かいどく)不能(ふのう): undecipherable, impossible to decode
  • ゲノムの解読(かいどく): genome decoding

USAGE:
Used for any situation requiring effort to extract meaning from something hard to read or understand. Common contexts include cryptography, archaeology, genetics, and even reading someone's difficult handwriting. The nuance is always that the source material is obscure or encoded in some way.