codetalker
Wartime language encryptor
A codetalker is someone who transmits military messages in a language the enemy cannot understand.
The term refers specifically to Native American soldiers—most famously Navajo—who used their indigenous languages as unbreakable codes during World War I and II: The Navajo codetalkers were essential to American operations in the Pacific.
Southwestern indigenous people
- indigenousOriginating in a region
- tribeSocial group sharing ancestry
- ChoctawSoutheastern Native American nation
- CherokeeIndigenous Southeastern nation
Comanche · Lakota · tradition · ancestry · culture · legacy · history · customs
Impossible to damage
- cipherHidden writing system
- secretConcealed information
- cryptographyScience of secure messaging
- decryptionConverting ciphertext to plaintext
secure · untranslatable · classified · indecipherable · intercepted · scrambled · covert · concealed
Speaking two languages
- translationConverting between languages
- interpreterOne who conveys meaning between languages
- phonologyScience of language sounds
- syntaxRules for arranging words
vocabulary · fluency · spoken · oral · mother-tongue · linguistic · untranslated · dialect
Combat engagement area
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
- reconnaissanceInformation-gathering before action
- communicationExchanging ideas or information
- transmissionSending of information
Pacific · encrypted · operations · artillery · coordinates · tactical · classified · radio
Navajo
Southwestern indigenous people
- indigenousOriginating in a region
- tribeSocial group sharing ancestry
- ChoctawSoutheastern Native American nation
Cherokee · Comanche · Lakota · tradition · ancestry · culture · legacy · history · customs · lineage
unbreakable
Impossible to damage
- cipherHidden writing system
- secretConcealed information
- cryptographyScience of secure messaging
decryption · secure · untranslatable · classified · indecipherable · intercepted · scrambled · covert · concealed · protected
bilingual
Speaking two languages
- translationConverting between languages
- interpreterOne who conveys meaning between languages
- phonologyScience of language sounds
syntax · vocabulary · fluency · spoken · oral · mother-tongue · linguistic · untranslated · dialect · speech
battlefield
Combat engagement area
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
- reconnaissanceInformation-gathering before action
- communicationExchanging ideas or information
transmission · Pacific · encrypted · operations · artillery · coordinates · tactical · classified · radio · frontline