Definition of mnemonic phrase

A Mnemonic phrase is a series of unrelated words, usually 12 or 24 words long, that can be used to regain access to a cryptocurrency wallet. It can be seen as a backup key for the wallet for when you lose access to it for whatever reason. A mnemonic phrase is often also referred to as a private key or seed phrase.

Examples of mnemonic phrase in a sentence

“I lost my phone last week, luckily I have the Mnemonic phrase of my XUMM wallet so I can still access my wallet!”

“I have stored the mnemonic phrase of my hardware wallet in my secured password manager so I can never lose it.”

Want to learn more?

There is a ton of information to be found online about Mnemonic phrases (and crypto keys in general) and how they work. There is in fact so much information available that it is too much to give a brief summary. Here is a 9 minute video where wallets, public and private keys are explained in a very understandable way.

Cryptocurrency Wallets – Public and Private Keys (Asymmetric Encryption Animated)