Definition of "decipherment" [de•ci•pher•ment]

• The analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. (noun)
• Decryption (noun)

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• "Nobel Prizes have recognized a number of the triumphs along the way, among them Watson, Crick and Wilkins 'decipherment of the helical structure of DNA and Roger Kornberg's uncovering of the workings of the enzyme RNA polymerase, which turns DNA into RNA."
• "Only a feat of brilliant decipherment by Jean-François Champollion, working in the 1820s, allowed us to understand ancient Egypt again in its own terms."
• "Not even the decipherment of hieroglyphics at the beginning of the 19th century, and the discovery that most of what the Egyptians had written consisted of spells, royal propaganda, and tax returns, could quite serve to frustrate the impulse."