Other forms: passwords
A password is the secret string of letters that opens your account — never share it. Change your password, a strong password, forgot my password.
Length beats complexity: a long phrase is harder to break than a short jumble, and reusing one across sites is the single most damaging habit, because one breach then opens everything. Note that the word predates computing — a sentry's password let you pass, which is exactly what it says.
1nounpasswordA secret string of characters that opens an account.
“I forgot my password and had to reset it.”
password is a secret.
Pass plus word. The sentry's password came first and the computing sense borrowed it.
From pass + word. The sentry-passing sense predates the cryptographic sense and was its inspiration.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA