homeworld

But Woman's heart within itself lives more, / And in her Homeworld she can happy be, / Loving and lov'd: from Nature's founts her Lore / Instinctive flows, she drinks it fresh and free

1839, Henry Ellison, Madmoments, page 229:

"First the Patrons wipe-out our home world, now you blow any chance of us making any credits," Kane said in his gruff sinking voice.

2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 19:

(science fiction) The world on which someone or something originated; a home planet or moon.


abduction

en-noun

abduction (countable and uncountable, plural abductions)

From Latin abductiō (“robbing; abduction”), from abdūcō (“take or lead away”), from ab (“away”) + dūcō (“to lead”). Equivalent to abduct + -ion.
* (physiology): From French, from Latin abductus.
* Compare French abduction.

But fear of abduction never stopped a good ufologist.

2010, Monte Dwyer, Red in the Centre: Through a Crooked Lens, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 122:


Trekkie

From Trek + -ie.
From Star Trek, as in groupie. (1970).

Not all Trekkies go around speaking Klingon and making endless references to the original Star Trek series.

1992 StarTrek VI is a fast-moving, vigorous book that will not disappoint the legions of Trekkies who avidly follow the adventure of their heroes. — Review of Star Trek - The Undiscovered Country in Amiga User International, author unknown, December 1992, HHL Publishing (UK), page 90.

2002 I have a major confession to make which will probably incur the wrath of all Trekkies out there. — Trek & Treat, article in The Daily Mirror (UK), Jessica Mellor, Saturday, August 10, 2002, page 44.

(fandom slang) A (usually major) fan of the TV science fiction series Star Trek.


bug-eyed monster

bug-eyed monster (plural bug-eyed monsters)

(science fiction, derogatory) An extraterrestrial.


Frankenstein complex

Frankenstein complex (plural Frankenstein complexes)

Coined by American science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1947 in his novelette Little Lost Robot. From Victor Frankenstein, the title character of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein.

coin

I'll admit that this Frankenstein Complex you're exhibiting has a certain justification—hence the First Law in the first place.

1947 March, Isaac Asimov, “Little Lost Robot”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 39, number 1, page 116:

Mr. Graf, you're still disturbed. You sure you're not harboring just a little of the old Frankenstein complex about all this? It's all right to admit it to me—in fact, I want you to talk about it.

1987 December, Lois McMaster Bujold, “Falling Free”, in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 108, number 13, page 30:

The central character of Mary Shelley's novel by the same name 'Frankenstein' is used as an adjective in a variety of biomedical contexts, eg Frankenstein complex The fear that machines via artificial intelligence may replace physicians

1992, Joseph C. Segen, The Dictionary of Modern Medicine, →ISBN, page 234:

No wonder Gibson introduces the Turing Registry agents in Neuromancer, representatives of cyberpunk's own apparent Frankenstein Complex: “For thousands of years men dreamed of pacts with demons. Only now are such things possible.[…]”

2010, Graham J. Murphy, Sherryl Vint, editors, Beyond Cyberpunk: New Critical Perspectives, Routledge, →ISBN, page 197:

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

The fear that an artificial intelligence will turn against humans.


teleport

(science fiction) Synonym of teleporter (“science fiction device”)


teleport

teleport (indefinite nominative singular)
teleports (genitive indefinite singular)
teleporten (definite nominative singular)
teleportens (definite genitive singular)
teleporter (indefinite nominative plural)
teleporters (genitive indefinite plural)
teleporterna (definite nominative plural)
teleporternas (definite genitive plural)

Han steg in i teleporten
He stepped into the teleport


spacer

It was the futile throwing back in the face of the Spacers their most keenly felt insult: their insistence on considering the natives of Earth as disgustingly diseased.

"How do I know I can trust you?" asked BKR.
Grakker hesitated. "Spacer's oath," he said at last.

2014 [1993], Bruce Coville, Aliens Ate My Homework, page 134:

Shepard: What are you running for?
Charles Saracino: I'm seeking one of the five spacer seats in Parliament. They have certain baroque conditions for a citizen to be able to vote for them.
Charles Saracino: You have to spend more than six months a year in space. But you can't have stayed in any one settled system for more than a month.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:

He was thankful that he still had his suit on when the ship had a catastrophic decompression, a spacer's worst nightmare.

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 20:

(science fiction) A person who works or lives in space.


EU

(Star Wars) Abbreviation of expanded universe.


robot

desc

→ Arabic: رُوبُوت (rūbūt), رُوبُوط (rūbūṭ)

→ Hindi: रोबोट (roboṭ)

→ Japanese: ロボット (robotto)

→ Korean: 로봇 (robot)

→ Persian: رُبات (robât), روبات (rôbât)

→ Swahili: roboti

→ Welsh: robot

Internet Archive
Josef Čapek
Karel Čapek
R.U.R.

Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef, and taken into English without change.

Young Rossum invented a worker with a minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work—everything that makes man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul.

c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act I, page 17:

The robots in Dick's novel, loosely adapted by Ridley Scott into the film Blade Runner, were so similar to humans that when they went rogue, trained bounty hunters were called in to perform psychological tests to see whether suspected androids lacked human empathy.

2010 January 26, Tom Chivers, Iain McDiarmid, The Telegraph:

(chiefly science fiction) An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.


robot

From English robot, from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1921 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef.

a style of dance popular in disco whereby the dancer impersonates the movement of a robot


robot

pl-noun

robot m animal (female equivalent (rare) robotka)

robotka (feminine rare)
robot (nominative singular)
roboty (nominative plural)
robota (genitive singular)
robotów (genitive plural)
robotowi (dative singular)
robotom (dative plural)
robot (accusative singular)
robota (accusative singular)
roboty (accusative plural)
robotem (instrumental singular)
robotami (instrumental plural)
robocie (locative singular)
robotach (locative plural)
robocie (singular vocative)
roboty (plural vocative)


alien

From Middle English alien, a borrowing from Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus (“belonging to someone else”, later “exotic, foreign”), from Latin alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos. Related to English else.

der

You might not have much use for me. You spend too much time with the damn aliens, pretending your time in the gangs back on Earth never happened. I know you weren't happy when I found you at the Citadel a couple years back.
But I'm glad you're on this. I hope you find whoever took my people on Freedom's Progress and kick their scaly asses. I'm glad it's a human finding these bastards.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Hello from the Reds:

Any life form of extraterrestrial or extradimensional origin.


alien

en-adj

alien (comparative more alien, superlative most alien)

more alien (comparative)
most alien (superlative)

alien subjects, enemies, property, or shores

Not belonging to the same country, land, or government, or to the citizens or subjects thereof; foreign.


alien

[ˈa.lɪ.ẽɪ̯̃]

Unadapted borrowing from English alien (“extraterrestrial life form”). Doublet of alheio.


bot

I stared at the bot and recognized her for the first time. She was me.

1998, David G. Hartwell, editor, Year's best SF 3, page 130:

As he guided the bot, Andrews reminisced about his younger days in Wyoming, when he had witnessed a mishandled load of wheat puff out a dusty fog.

The bot juddered to a halt, as the whole lower segment of its power arm darkened.

2007, Peter F. Hamilton, The Dreaming Void:

(science fiction, informal) A physical robot.


UFO

→ Czech: UFO

→ Dutch: ufo

→ Estonian: UFO

→ Finnish: UFO, ufo

→ German: UFO, Ufo

→ Greek: ούφο (oúfo)

→ Italian: UFO, ufo

→ Japanese: UFO (yūfō)

→ Norwegian: ufo

→ Portuguese: UFO, ufo

→ Swedish: ufo, UFO

After the case had been reported in the newspapers, Mrs. Gracindo de Souza, wife of a member of the local stock exchange, told police that she and her daughter had been driving down Alameda Sao Boaventura when they had seen an^([sic]) UFO hovering over the clearing where the bodies were later discovered.

1967, Brad Steiger, Joan Whritenour, “Someone Up There May Not Like Us”, in Flying Saucers Are Hostile, Tandem Publishing, published 1975, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 13:

To my way of thinking, there is every bit as much evidence for the existence of UFOs as there is for the existence of God. Probably far more. At least in the case of UFOs there have been countless taped and filmed—and, by the way, unexplained—sightings from all over the world, along with documented radar evidence seen by experienced military and civilian radar operators.

2004, George Carlin, “THEY CAME FROM OUT OF THE SKY”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 12:

unidentified flying object
unidentified flying object#English

Initialism of unidentified flying object; (loosely) an alien spacecraft.

未確認飛行物体

みかくにんひこうぶったい


UFO

de-noun

UFO n (strong, genitive UFOs or UFO, plural UFOs or UFO)

UFOs (genitive)
UFO (genitive)
UFOs (plural)
UFO (plural)
UFO (nominative singular)
UFOs (definite nominative plural)
UFO (definite nominative plural)
UFOs (genitive singular)
UFO (genitive singular)
UFOs (definite genitive plural)
UFO (definite genitive plural)
UFO (dative singular)
UFOs (dative definite plural)
UFO (dative definite plural)
UFO (accusative singular)
UFOs (accusative definite plural)
UFO (accusative definite plural)

Borrowed from English UFO, initialism of unidentified flying object, itself translated into German as unidentifiziertes Flugobjekt or more commonly unbekanntes Flugobjekt.


UFO

Orthographic borrowing from English UFO, but pronounced like an acronym rather than a mere initialism.

未確認飛行物体 未確認飛行物体#Japanese

unidentified flying object
unidentified flying object

Synonym of 未確認飛行物体 (mikakunin hikō buttai, “unidentified flying object”); a UFO


UFO

Orthographic borrowing from English UFO.

(science fiction, ufology) UFO, unidentified flying object


morph

en-verb

morph (third-person singular simple present morphs, present participle morphing, simple past and past participle morphed)

morphs (present singular third-person)
morphing (participle present)
morphed (participle past)
morphed (past)

Meta leapt forward. In midair his lower half morphed, and suddenly he was one-half humanoid, one-half coiled spring.

"Would it reflect badly on women if I morphed my bust size up a bit for it? Sorta like wearing a padded bra?"

2015 January 30, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Jan 30, 2015:

(science fiction, fantasy) To shapeshift.


adamant

From Middle English adamant, adamaunt, from Latin adamantem, accusative singular form of adamās (“hard as steel”), from Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas, “invincible”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + δαμάζω (damázō, “I tame”) or of Semitic origin. Doublet of diamond.

der

This then is and alwayes hath ben the fashion of Worldlinges, & reprobate persons, to harden their hartes as an adamant stone, against anye thinge that shalbe tolde the for amendement of their lives, and for the savinge of their soules.

1582, Robert Parsons, chapter 8, in The first booke of the Christian exercise, appertayning to resolution, G. Flinton:

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead …

1611, King James Translators, Ezekiel 3:9

But this was a finale she ever avoided: an offer, like the rock of adamant in Sinbad's voyages, finishes the attraction by destroying the vessel;...

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 162:

An imaginary rock or mineral of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substances of extreme hardness.


parallel

From Middle French parallèle, borrowed from Latin parallelus.

parallel universe

(science fiction, of realities, dimensions, timelines, etc.) Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.


CT

(science fiction) Initialism of contraterrene.


ME

United States of America
United States of America

Abbreviation of Maine, a state of the United States of America.


gray

From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”).
See also Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár); also Latin rāvus (“grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”) (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”).

cog

(chiefly US, ufology) Synonym of grey alien


gray

(ufology) gray (one of a race of evil, short extraterrestrial beings)


jump

Brill Publishers
hydraulic jump
jump cut
jump discontinuity
jump instruction

From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, jump”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Others have connected it to Ancient Greek ἀθεμβούσα (athemboúsa, “uninhibited”), which is unlikely. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely.
Cognates
Cognate with Middle Dutch gumpen (“to jump”), Low German jumpen (“to jump”), Middle High German gumpen, gampen (“to jump, hop”) (dialectal German gampen, Alemannic German gumpe, Walser dialect kumpu), Old Norse goppa (“to jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

قَفْزَة

instance of propelling oneself into the air — see also leap

(science fiction) An instance of faster-than-light travel, not observable from ordinary space.


angel

Jamaican Creole: ienjel

→ Chinese: 安琪兒 /安琪儿 (ānqí'ér)

→ Hawaiian: ʻānela

→ Lingala: anjelu, anzelu

→ Malagasy: anjely

Florence Baptistery
Seven churches of Asia
en:Angel (disambiguation)
en:angel

Two Baroque angels from southern Germany, from the mid-18th century
From Middle English angel, aungel, ængel, engel, from Old English anġel, ænġel, enġel, enċġel (“angel, messenger”), from Proto-West Germanic *angil, borrowed from Latin angelus, itself from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”); and also in part from Anglo-Norman angele, angle, from the same Latin source. The religious sense of the Greek word first appeared in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ, “messenger”) or יהוה מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ YHWH, “messenger of YHWH”).
Use of the term in some churches to refer to a church official derives from interpreting the "angels" of the Seven churches of Asia in Revelation as being bishops or ministers rather than angelic beings.

der

don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly

(colloquial, dated) An unidentified flying object detected by air traffic control radar.


dimension

a machine that lets you travel to a parallel dimension.

"If a man should wish to be in some other place, it is entirely possible for him to imagine himself in that place and, diving back through the negative dimension, to emerge out of it in that place with instantaneous rapidity. To imagine oneself———"

1938 July, L. Ron Hubbard, “The Dangerous Dimension”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume XXI, number 5, Street & Smith, →OCLC, page 105:

DR. PAUL MANHEIM: I have been on the other side. I have touched another dimension. Part of me is still there.
LAURA MANHEIM: Help him.
DR. CRUSHER: Try to stay calm Dr. Manheim. I don't think it's going to help you're struggling against it.
DR. PAUL MANHEIM: My mind is floating between two places. It is difficult to know which is which. There is no way to explain it.

1988 May 2, Rod Loomis, Michelle Phillips, Gates McFadden, We'll Always Have Paris (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

He was experimenting with matter transportation through the nth dimension.

2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 2:

(science fiction, fantasy) A universe or plane of existence.


tractor

en-verb

tractor (third-person singular simple present tractors, present participle tractoring, simple past and past participle tractored)

tractors (present singular third-person)
tractoring (participle present)
tractored (participle past)
tractored (past)

Formed from Latin tractus, perfect passive participle of trahere (“to pull”), + agent noun suffix -or.

(transitive, science fiction) To move with a tractor beam.


force

en-noun

force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

der

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

The Europeans tried, my goodness how they tried. But on the day the US proved too strong and too inspired. They were, dammit, just better. And when Leonard's putt dropped they clearly had the force with them as well.

1999 September 28, Mike Selvey, “Crenshaw vindicated by a chain reaction”, in The Guardian:

The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

2005, George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, spoken by Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), published 2005:

(humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.

voima

science fiction: binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power


race

en-noun

race (countable and uncountable, plural races)

1560s, via Middle French race from Italian razza (early 14th century), of uncertain origin. Partially displaced native Middle English kinde (“kind, type, sort, race, nature”), whence English kind.
theories
* Diez and some other scholars suggest derivation from Proto-Germanic *raitō (whence Old High German reiza (“line”) and Old Norse ríta (“to score, log, outline”)), perhaps via Lombardic *raiza (“line”), which Körting notes is a literal rendering of Latin linea sanguinis (“bloodline of descent”). Anatoly Liberman says "the semantic fit is good" but the chronology falters; he says the Germanic word went out of use before the Italian word arose, and he says the intermediary is not attested.
* Some scholars suggest derivation from Old Spanish raza, rasa, from earlier ras, res (“head of cattle”), from Arabic رَأْس (raʔs, “head”), but Italian razza predates the Spanish word according to Diez and Meyer-Lübke.
* Meyer-Lübke suggested Latin generatio as the root; Körting says "the disappearance of two initial syllables hardly seems credible", but Meyer-Lübke notes the Venetian form narazza and the Old Bellunesian form naraccia, positing that after the first syllable ge- was lost, the remaining (una) narazza came to be reanalysed as una razza.
* Gianfranco Contini suggests the Italian word comes from Old French haraz (“troop of horses”), whence Modern French haras (“breeding farm for horses; stud farm”), from Old Norse hárr (“grey-haired; hoary”). Liberman considers this derivation the most likely.
* Other suggested Latin etyma:
** radius (perhaps via Vulgar Latin *radia) (per Baist).
** radix (“root”) (per Ulrich); Liberman says "the semantic match is excellent", and race (“rhizome of ginger”) (which definitely derives from radix) shows that the phonology is plausible.
** *raptiare (“breed falcons”) (per Körting).
** The nominative of ratio (perhaps via an unattested intermediate form *razzo), as opposed to ragione which derives from the accusative rationem.
* Other implausible suggestions include Slavic raz and Basque arraca, supposedly meaning "stud animal" (Basque arrazza, "race", derives from Spanish).

raça

a group of sentient beings distinguished by common characteristics

عِرْق

a large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of physical characteristics

raça

a group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics

A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.

There are two distinct races of gods known to Norse mythology[.]

1898, Herman Isidore Stern, The gods of our fathers: a study of Saxon mythology, page 15:

Imagine a race of aliens that develops on a dimly lit world perpetually shrouded in clouds so that vision would be less useful for survival than on Earth.

1999, Clifford A. Pickover, The Science of Aliens, page 47:

Tali: My father is responsible for the lives of seventeen million people—our entire race is in his hands. And I'm his only child.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1:

A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race):

(fantasy, science fiction, mythology) A large group of nonhumans distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage.


human

From Late Middle English humayne, humain, from Middle French humain, from Old French humain, umain, from Latin hūmānus m (“of or belonging to a man, human, humane”, adjective), from homo, with unclear ū. Spelling human has been predominant since the early 18th century. Not etymologically related to man.

der

чолові́к m (čolovík) (now usually means "man", "male human")

Greetings. I am Blor-Utar from Zimtok-5. I have come to subjugate the human race. Do not resist. Why humans? Because, in addition to their value as slave labor, they are also delicious and nutritious!

1994 March 29, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes:

(strictly, biology) The tallest, most abundant and most intelligent of the primates; Homo sapiens.

(fantasy, science fiction, mythology) A human as contrasted from superficially similar but typically more powerful humanoid creatures; a member of the human race.

Greetings, human! You have stumbled into the dimension of the Snow People.[…]Flesh plows clear the streets to make them safe to drive.[…]Does this shock you, human? Do the ways of our world open your eyes to the truths of your own?

2011 December 29, Alex Culang, Raynato Castro, Buttersafe (webcomic):

(fantasy, science fiction) A term of address for any human, often implying the listener's species is their only noteworthy trait.


rod

From Middle English rodde, from Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum (“rod, pole”)), of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Germanic *rudd- (“stick, club”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”). Compare Old Norse rudda (“club”). For the root, compare English rid. Presumably unrelated to Proto-Germanic *rōdō (“rod, pole”).

These cylindrical rods fly through the air at incredible speeds and can only be picked up by high-speed cameras.

2000, Jack Barranger, Paul Tice, Mysteries Explored: The Search for Human Origins, Ufos, and Religious Beginnings, Book Three, p.37:

During one such broadcast in 1997, the esteemed radio host bellowed, “I got a fax earlier today from MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) in Arizona and they said what you think are rods are actually insects!”

2009, Barry Conrad, An Unknown Encounter: A True Account of the San Pedro Haunting, Dorrance Publishing, pages 129–130:

He tells of a home video showing a rod flying into the open mouth of a girl singing at a wedding.

2010, Deena West Budd, The Weiser Field Guide to Cryptozoology: Werewolves, Dragons, Skyfish, Lizard Men, and Other Fascinating Creatures Real and Mysterious, Weiser Books, page 15:

(ufology) A rod-shaped object that appears in photographs or videos traveling at high speed, not seen by the person recording the event, often associated with extraterrestrial entities.


plasma

en-verb

plasma (third-person singular simple present plasmas, present participle plasmaing, simple past and past participle plasmaed)

plasmas (present singular third-person)
plasmaing (participle present)
plasmaed (participle past)
plasmaed (past)

From Late Latin plasma (“mold”), from Ancient Greek πλάσμα (plásma, “something formed”).

der

(science fiction, transitive) To transform something into plasma.


Klingon

[Alt: Photograph of two people in Klingon costume]
c. 1960s, from the Star Trek franchise, purportedly by Gene Roddenberry, named for Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan of the Los Angeles Police Department. In-universe, the name was a transcription of Klingon tlhIngan.

SPOCK: Captain, we've reached the designated position for scanning the coded directive tape.
KIRK: Good. We've both guessed right. Negotiations with the Klingon Empire are on the verge of breaking down. Starfleet Command anticipates a surprise attack. We are to proceed to Organia and take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the Klingons from using it as a base.

1967 March 23, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Errand of Mercy (Star Trek: The Original Series), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

(countable) Member of an alien warrior race in the Star Trek universe with distinctive forehead ridges and a culture based on strict observance of honour, loyalty, and combat.

克林貢 /克林贡

member of an alien warrior race in the Star Trek universe


Klingon

An artificial language created by Marc Okrand for the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.


humanoid

From human + -oid from Latin hūmānus m (“of or belonging to a man, human, humane”, adjective).

A being having the appearance or characteristics of a human.

humanoid

a being having the appearance or characteristics of a human


humanoid

pl-noun

humanoid m animal (related adjective humanoidalny)

humanoidalny (adjective)
humanoid (nominative singular)
humanoidy (nominative plural)
humanoida (genitive singular)
humanoidów (genitive plural)
humanoidowi (dative singular)
humanoidom (dative plural)
humanoida (accusative singular)
humanoidy (accusative plural)
humanoidem (instrumental singular)
humanoidami (instrumental plural)
humanoidzie (locative singular)
humanoidach (locative plural)
humanoidzie (singular vocative)
humanoidy (plural vocative)

Internationalism; compare English humanoid, French humanoïde, German Humanoid, ultimately from Latin hūmānus.

(robotics, science fiction) humanoid (being having the appearance or characteristics of a human)


unbinilium

systematic element name
systematic element name

The systematic element name for the (as yet undiscovered) chemical element with atomic number 120 (symbol Ubn).


teek

She stood there dumbfounded as the door swung open and banged against the inside wall, narrowly missing her.¶ I did that, she thought. I'm a... teek?

2011, Nate Kenyon, StarCraft Ghost: Spectres, →ISBN, page 140:

(science fiction) A telekinetic person; a person who has telekinetic abilities.


teek

en-verb

teek (third-person singular simple present teeks, present participle teeking, simple past and past participle teeked)

teeks (present singular third-person)
teeking (participle present)
teeked (participle past)
teeked (past)

Tears of pain came to his eyes—and he didn’t know which hurt more, the pain of the soup on his arm or the real shock he had received when he had forced himself to keep from teeking the falling soup halfway across the room.

1957 April 14, Robert Silverberg, “Hidden Talent”, in Worlds of If, page 27:

With a brief psionic push, Nova teeked them aside and into the rock, firing her rifle at the soft areas just above the creature's rib cage.

2011, Nate Kenyon, StarCraft Ghost: Spectres, →ISBN, page 44:

(science fiction, transitive) To use telekinesis on; to move (something) with the power of one's mind.


space

space (third-person singular simple present spaces, present participle spacing, simple past and past participle spaced)

spaces (present singular third-person)
spacing (participle present)
spaced (participle past)
spaced (past)

From Middle English space, from Anglo-Norman space, variant of espace, espas et al., and spaze, variant of espace, from Latin spatium, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peh₂- (“to stretch, to pull”).

der

The captain spaced the traitors.

Sound effect of blow with blunt instrument, groan, and the unmistakable cycling of an air lock—Castor: "Sorry, folks. My assistant has just spaced Mr. Rudolf. […]"

1952, Robert A. Heinlein, The Rolling Stones:

A lot of people make jokes about spacing somebody, about shoving somebody out an airlock. I don't think it's funny. Never will.

1995, J. Michael Straczynski, And Now for a Word (Babylon 5), season 2, episode 15, spoken by Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs):

(transitive, science fiction) To kill (someone) by ejection into outer space, usually without a space suit.

He well remembered, when he was a junior officer, how the sight of a well dressed, impeccably neat commanding officer, no matter how long they had been spacing, maintained the enthusiasm, confidence and morale of the officers and men.

1947 January 14, Bernard I. Kahn, “Command”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 38, number 5:

(intransitive, science fiction) To travel into and through outer space.


escape pod

(chiefly science fiction) Any small, secondary, emergency-use vehicle used to evacuate from the main vehicle during times of danger.


tractor beam

Possibly a shortening of attractor beam; note however the broader meaning of tractor (“machinery that pulls something”). Coined by American science fiction author E. E. Smith in 1931 in his novel Spacehounds of IPC, first serialized in Amazing Stories.

coin

Through it Stevens saw with satisfaction that the Forlorn Hope was not being abandoned; in the grip of powerful tractor beams, every fragment of the wreckage was following close behind them in their flight through space.

1931 August, E. E. “Doc” Smith, “Spacehounds of IPC”, in Amazing Stories, volume 6, number 5, page 549:

By the way they're braced, there are tractor beams and pressor beams and—there are vacuum tubes that have grids but apparently work with cold cathodes.

1945 June, Murray Leinster, “The Ethical Equations”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 35, number 4, page 122:

We're caught in a tractor beam! It's pulling us in!

1977, George Lucas, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, spoken by Han Solo (Harrison Ford):

(science fiction) A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance.


fighter

From Middle English fightere, fyghtor, feghtere, feghtare, fiȝtare, fiȝtere, from Old English feohtere. Equivalent to fight + -er.

Task Force 42 consisted of almost two dozen main line spinships, including the carriers Olympus Shadow and Neptune Station. Each of these can launch more than a hundred fighters or ALRs.

1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 32:

I toss around [37,654 tonne] dreadnoughts like they were fighters; dimly aware of the former crews being crushed to liquescence.

2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Terminal Six (Legendary):

A class of fixed-wing aircraft whose primary purpose is to shoot down other aircraft, sometimes accompanied by a secondary purpose of attacking ground targets.

(science fiction, by extension) A starfighter


SM

(science fiction) Initialism of space marine.


ununennium

Element 119: Ununennium (Uue) This has yet to be reported. From its position in the periodic table, in group 1 below francium, this element should have the physical properties of an alkali metal and, were it long-lived enough, the element should display the singly-charged ion M⁺ as its most favoured chemical state.

2001, John Emsley, “The Elements (A–Z)”, in Nature’s Building Blocks: An A–Z Guide to the Elements, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 2002 printing, →ISBN, page 468:

"[…] Clemson had element 119 and somehow it attached itself to the oxygen atoms on Earth. The commission wants this element 119 to be called Ununennium based on the element number, one, one, and nine." / Sandi speaks into the telephone, "That is ridiculous! Can't you change the name of the element to the person that found the gas cloud back at SETI, Rich Tolt?" / "I can make a recommendation to the rest of the commission, but rarely do they change names. The names for the next ten elements have been chosen based on the element number and the Latin names of that number to make it easier for the world."

2007, Steven Comas, chapter 10, in The Trojan Horse Cloud, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 77:

Our question at the beginning of this essay was "are there more elements to be discovered?" The next elements would be ununennium (atomic number 119) and unbinilium (atomic number 120). The problems in trying to produce these elements by accelerating an ion beam into a target are the short half-lives of possible target elements and the extended times required for a successful observation of a new element. So far, elements 119 and 120 have eluded discovery. But you can expect that scientists will continue to search for new elements.

2017, Darrell D. Ebbing, Steven D. Gammon, “Atoms, Molecules, and Ions”, in General Chemistry, 11th edition, Boston, Mass.: Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 46:

The systematic element name for the (as yet undiscovered) chemical element with atomic number 119 (symbol Uue).


exobiology

en-noun

exobiology (usually uncountable, plural exobiologies)

From exo- + biology, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg.

coin

Biology has lately given rise to a new discipline: exobiology, the study of extraterrestrial life. Ever since 1959, when analysis of a piece of meteor substance showed traces of organic compounds, a controversy has raged as to whether these compounds came into the atmosphere with the meteorite or whether they originate on earth.

1973, Lyall Watson, Supernature, page ix. 310:

(biology, science fiction) The branch of biology dealing with lifeforms originating a different planet.

exobiologia

biology dealing with extraterrestrial lifeforms


extraterrestrial

Smith returns in Men In Black 3 as a veteran agent of a secret organization dedicated to policing the earth’s many extraterrestrials.

2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

A being originating from outside of the Earth's atmosphere, from space, or from another planet; an alien.


artificial intelligence

en-noun

artificial intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural artificial intelligences)

Coined by American computer scientist and cognitive scientist John McCarthy in 1955, and popularized at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, 1956.

kunsmatige intelligensie

intelligence exhibited by an artificial entity

ሠው ሰራሽ ዕውቀት

śäw säraš ʿəwḳät

artificially intelligent → artificially intelligently

While the humans scurried in confusion, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) created by MIT/Bell Labs linked itself into the network of high-speed, twentieth generation computers placed at its disposal by a Red Alert Priority, evaluated data thoughtfully for a minute and a half and then proceeded to get in touch with its opposite number in the Russian Republics.

1973, Gardner Dozois, Chains of the Sea, →ISBN, Chains of the Sea, page 83:

What Daedadus really is, is the world's first successful wholly autonomous AI. Whatever mysterious organization managed to create the first true artificial intelligence succeeded so well that their creation managed to convince them that they'd failed... and then escaped.

2000, Sheldon Pacotti (writer) & Warren Spector (director/producer), Deus Ex

Dylan Hunt: "This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the High Guard. Investigation has shown that an Artificial Intelligence was involved in the tragic death of your President. In such a case, Commonwealth law demands that the AI's personality be completely erased."

2001 January 15, Walter Jon Williams, All Great Neptune's Ocean (Andromeda), season 1, episode 10:

Also remember that Skynet's an artificial intelligence. Intelligence, for our purpose, means being able to use reason in order to achieve your goals.

2009, Josh Weisberg, “It Stands to Reason: Skynet and Self-preservation”, in Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am, →ISBN:

Intelligence exhibited by an artificial (non-natural, man-made) entity.

(countable, chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware computer or computer program.

kunstmatige intelligentie

science fiction: intelligent, self-aware computer or computer program


Vulcan

From Latin Vulcānus, probably from Etruscan although very unclear, but unknown meaning and further origin (see more in Latin entry). Doublet of bolcane and volcano.

A ghost town in Gunnison County, Colorado.

An unincorporated community in Norway Township, Dickinson County, Michigan.

Dickinson County
Dickinson County#English

An unincorporated community in Iron County, Missouri.

An inactive volcano in New Mexico, United States.


Vulcan

From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s.

language constructed
constructed language

A language constructed for the Star Trek franchise, spoken by the fictional Vulcan species.


fireball

en-verb

fireball (third-person singular simple present fireballs, present participle fireballing, simple past and past participle fireballed)

fireballs (present singular third-person)
fireballing (participle present)
fireballed (participle past)
fireballed (past)

/ˈfaɪəɹˌbɔl/

Chelyabinsk meteor
Nevada Test Site
Operation Upshot–Knothole

The noun is derived from fire (noun) + ball (noun). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

(transitive, fiction, chiefly fantasy, science fiction) To attack (someone or something) with balls of fire.

hyökätä tulipalloin

to attack (someone or something) with balls of fire


Saturnian

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Saturn.


android

From New Latin androides, from Ancient Greek ἀνδρός (andrós, genitive of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man, human”)) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, itself from εἶδος (eîdos, “form, image, shape, appearance, look”)). Note the form ἀνδρώδης (andrṓdēs, “manly”) already existed in Ancient Greek. By surface analysis, andr- + -oid.

af

genitive of <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">ἀνήρ</i> (anḗr, “man, human”)

itself from <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">εἶδος</i> (eîdos, “form, image, shape, appearance, look”)

A robot that is designed to look and act like a human being (not necessarily a male one).


android

en-adj

android (comparative more android, superlative most android)

more android (comparative)
most android (superlative)

(anatomy, in pelvimetry) Of the pelvis, having a narrow anterior segment and a heart-shaped brim, typically found in the male.

an android fat distribution


android

android (nominative singular)
androidy (nominative plural)
androida (genitive singular)
androidów (genitive plural)
androidowi (dative singular)
androidom (dative plural)
androida (accusative singular)
androidy (accusative plural)
androidem (instrumental singular)
androidami (instrumental plural)
androidzie (locative singular)
androidach (locative plural)
androidzie (singular vocative)
androidy (plural vocative)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”), ἀνδρός (andrós), + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “form, appearance”). By surface analysis, andro- + -id. First attested in 1830.

ref

Gazeta Polska (in Polish), number 309, 1830, page 4


matrix

From Middle English matris, matrice, matrix, from Old French matrice (“pregnant animal”), or from Latin mātrīx (“dam, womb”), both ultimately from māter (“mother”). Doublet of mother from Indo-European ancestor.
Slang usage coined with the 1999 sci-fi action film The Matrix.

基質 /基质

analytical chemistry: sampling environment

He'd operated on an almost permanent adrenaline high, a byproduct of youth and proficiency, jacked into a custom cyberspace deck that projected his disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that was the matrix.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 5:

Mari Otsu, a 25-year-old Japanese-Hawaiian artist, tells me she was “desperately lonely” while she was studying at New York University, when she “realised that [she]^([sic]) was in the matrix”. I ask her what she means.

2023 October 28, Jemima Kelly, “Back to school”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 20:

(slang, figurative, science fiction) Alternative letter-case form of Matrix; a controlled environment or situation in which people behave in ways that conform to pre-determined roles.


matrix

matrix (nominative singular)
matriksy (nominative plural)
matriksa (genitive singular)
matriksów (genitive plural)
matriksowi (dative singular)
matriksom (dative plural)
matrix (accusative singular)
matriksy (accusative plural)
matriksem (instrumental singular)
matriksami (instrumental plural)
matriksie (locative singular)
matriksach (locative plural)
matriksie (singular vocative)
matriksy (plural vocative)

Unadapted borrowing from English Matrix. Doublet of matryca.

(science fiction, slang) Matrix (simulated reality to which many humans are connected; in some works, it is created by sentient machines to subdue humans)


psi

en-noun

psi (countable and uncountable, plural psis)

From Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî), the name for the twenty-third letter of the alphabet (Ψ, ψ).

‘Come, lad,’ he said. ‘We will take tea together and speak of the noumenon, the psi and other more heterogenous phenomena.’

When an event is classified as a psi phenomenon, it is claimed that all known channels for the apparent interaction have been eliminated.

1996, Michael F. Stoeber, Hugo Anthony Meynell, Critical Reflections on the Paranormal (page 60)

It traces the growth of homo gestalt with the uniting of six lovely outcasts of society who have psi powers and come together as a hive mind, thus creating a gestalt super-being.

2005, Michael Ashley, Transformations: The History of the Science Fiction Magazine 1950 to 1970, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, page 133:

(uncountable, parapsychology, science fiction) A form of psychic energy.


glass

en-verb

glass (third-person singular simple present glasses, present participle glassing, simple past and past participle glassed)

glasses (present singular third-person)
glassing (participle present)
glassed (participle past)
glassed (past)

From Middle English glas, from Old English glæs, from Proto-West Germanic *glas, from Proto-Germanic *glasą, possibly related to Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to shine”) (compare glow), and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰel- (“to shine, shimmer, glow”). Cognate with West Frisian glês, Dutch glas, Low German Glas, German Glas, Swedish glas, Icelandic gler.

“The Covenant don’t ‘miss’ anything when they glass a planet,” the Master Chief replied.

2003, Eric Nylund, Halo: First Strike, New York: Del Rey, →ISBN, page 155:

(transitive, science fiction) To bombard an area with such intensity (by means of a nuclear bomb, fusion bomb, etc) as to melt the landscape into glass.


extragalactic

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-extragalactic.wav

(science fiction) Originating outside of the local galaxy.


sie

head

sie (third person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, accusative sir, possessive adjective hir, possessive noun hirs, reflexive hirself)

en-pron

sir (accusative)
hir (adjective possessive)
hirs (noun possessive)
hirself (reflexive)

If the child is about the intellectual equal of the parent, sie will eventually start holding hir own in discussions, […]

1993 September 24, Alex Martelli, “punishment vs ethics (was Re: Discipline my daughters)”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet):

"You must be Ash," sie said, hir voice a shade deeper than Amaranth's.

2010 September 16, Jessica Freely, Amaranth and Ash, La Vergne: Lightning Source, →ISBN, page 101:

Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant, CreateSpace, →ISBN, page 7:

When I asked hir about hir preferred self-identification in this scene, sie offered me this language, 'sie sharply performs the hotness of teasing all the audience from the edge-space of androgyny.'

2011 August 16, Petra Kuppers, Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC PN1590.H36 K87 2011, page 18:

(rare, nonstandard) Gender-neutral subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she


teleporter

(science fiction) A device used for teleporting.


cyberspace

en-noun

cyberspace (countable and uncountable, plural cyberspaces)

Blend of cybernetics + space, equivalent to cyber- + space, coined by American-Canadian speculative fiction writer William Gibson in his short story collection Burning Chrome (1982) and popularized in his novel Neuromancer (1984).

coin

I knew every chip in Bobby's simulator by heart; it looked like your workaday Ono-Sendai VII, the ‘Cyberspace Seven’, but I'd rebuilt it so many times that you'd have had a hard time finding a square millimetre of factory circuitry in all that silicon.

1982 July, William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”, in Omni, volume 4, number 10, page 72:

Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts… A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding…

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(science fiction) A three-dimensional representation of virtual space in a computer network.

կիբերտարածք

science fiction: three-dimensional representation of virtual space


entity

From the Medieval Latin entitās, from ēns (“being”) (stem: ent-) + -tās (compare essentia), see there for more information.

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 1. Existence

(science fiction) An alien lifeform that has no corporeal body.


basilisk

From Middle English basilicke, borrowed from Old French basilique, from Latin basiliscus, from Ancient Greek βασιλίσκος (basilískos) (literally "minor king or chieftain", possibly based on descriptions or rare encounters with different types of cobra which have crown-like patterns on their head; the "deadly gaze" could have been from the spitting cobra's ability to spit venom into the eyes of predators or prey from a distance), from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”). The cognitohazard/infohazard sense is by analogy with the deadly gaze of the mythical creature.

A basilisk, in this context, is information that can hurt you simply because you are aware of it.

2019 June 13, Tom Chivers, The AI Does Not Hate You, Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN:

(science fiction) An infohazard or cognitohazard, especially a Langford's basilisk.


carrier

но́сьбіт

And each was hideously powerful: an attack carrier could destroy a world, a force of cruisers and spinship destroyers could destroy a sun.

1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, 1st edition, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 114:

The first carrier completely ignored us, sir! Blew through the Malta’s debris field and headed straight for Earth!

2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Cortana (Jen Taylor), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: Cairo Station:

In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong.
It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier.
Alliance carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Starships: Carriers Codex entry:

aircraft carrier
aircraft carrier#English

A person or object that carries someone or something else.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship designed to carry starfighters


portal

From Middle English portal, porttol, from Old French portal and Medieval Latin portāle, from porta.

jet bridge

elevated corridor permitting access to a plane from an airport

(science fiction and fantasy) A magical or technological doorway leading to another location; period in time or dimension.


portal

en-verb

portal (third-person singular simple present portals, present participle portaling or portalling, simple past and past participle portaled or portalled)

portals (present singular third-person)
portaling (participle present)
portalling (participle present)
portaled (participle past)
portaled (past)
portalled (participle past)
portalled (past)

(science fiction, fantasy) To use a portal (magical or technological doorway).


portal

pl-noun

portal m inan (related adjective portalowy)

portalowy (adjective)
portal (nominative singular)
portale (nominative plural)
portalu (genitive singular)
portali (genitive plural)
portalów (genitive plural)
portalowi (dative singular)
portalom (dative plural)
portal (accusative singular)
portale (accusative plural)
portalem (instrumental singular)
portalami (instrumental plural)
portalu (locative singular)
portalach (locative plural)
portalu (singular vocative)
portale (plural vocative)

Borrowed from German Portal. Sense 4 is a semantic loan from English portal.

sl

(fantasy, science fiction) portal (magical or technological doorway leading to another location, period in time, or dimension)


tripod

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Latin tripūs, tripodis, from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous); equivalent to tri- + -pod. Doublet of tripus and teapoy.

(science fiction) A fictional three-legged Martian war machine from H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1897).


credit

en-noun

credit (countable and uncountable, plural credits)

Borrowed from Middle French crédit (“belief, trust”), from Latin crēditum (“a loan, credit”), neuter of crēditus, past participle of crēdere (“to believe”). The verb is from the noun. Doublet of shraddha, creed.

To repair your star cruiser will cost 100,000 credits.

Aside from the fact that she means nearly ten million credits investment, which no one will insure on this trip, there will necessarily be seventy-three men aboard.

1934 December, John W. Campbell, Jr., “The Mightiest Machine”, in Astounding Stories, volume XIV, number 4, Street & Smith, page 12:

The standard credit was established by the Citadel's Unified Banking Act as the currency of interstellar trade. The credit has a managed floating exchange rate, calculated in real time by the central bank to maintain the average value of all participating currencies. Some regional currencies are worth more than a credit and some less.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Credits ("Creds") Codex entry:

"First the Patrons wipe-out our home world, now you blow any chance of us making any credits," Kane said in his gruff sinking voice.

2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 19:

(science fiction) A unit of currency used in a fictional universe or timeframe.


worm

From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm (“worm, snake”), from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis, possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of vermin and wyrm, the latter of which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.
(computing): First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.
cognates
Germanic cognates include Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Swedish orm (“snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“earthworm or snake”), Danish orm and Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem).
Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian var̃mas (“insect, midge”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”).

шнек

something helical, especially the thread of a screw

Mongolian death worm
Mongolian death worm

(fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.


torch

The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”).
Sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun sense 1). Sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lămpắdă părădidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another.
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι

sueo'

stick of wood, etc., with one end soaked in a flammable substance and set on fire; similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material

(science fiction) Short for torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).


torch

en-verb

torch (third-person singular simple present torches, present participle torching, simple past and past participle torched)

torches (present singular third-person)
torching (participle present)
torched (participle past)
torched (past)

cog

λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι

(science fiction) To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).

to travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive

matkustaa fuusiolla toimivalla avaruusaluksella


Quidditch

Coined by British author J. K. Rowling in her 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In Quidditch Through the Ages, Rowling gives some etymological information, hinting that the word evolved from Queerditch (compound of queer + ditch), with some spelling variation as would be expected in real life Middle English, namely Kwidditch, Kweerditch.

Maybe you wish your parents were smarter or funnier or richer or better looking, but you might as well wish for a spot on the local Quidditch team.

2003, “Universal Lifts the Veil on a Harry Potter Park”, in New York Times:

Turn to the south, and you see the Central Acropolis, a five-story palace where the nobles might have sat to watch plaza ceremonies or the famous Quidditch-like Mayan ball games.

2007 December 16, Ethan Todras-Whitehill, “In Tikal, Temples in the Mist”, in New York Times:

Whichever team gets Yegor holds the edge. This is like Quidditch in hell.

2007, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007:

Eton’s playing fields are famous, not least because of the Eton Field Game. It’s played only there. It’s sort of like Quidditch for real people.

2010 May 8, Brooks Barnes, “Wait, Wait... Don’t Tell Me!”, in National Public Radio:

A fictional ball game played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals.


nano

en-noun

nano (countable and uncountable, plural nanos)

From nano-, from Latin nānus, from Ancient Greek νᾶνος (nânos).

(countable, science fiction) A nanotechnological device, such as a computer

(countable, science fiction) A nanoscale device, such as a robot


mechanical

From Middle English mechanical, mechanicalle, mechanycalle, equivalent to mechanic + -al.

Is it a mechanical, or a man in a clockwork suit?

2012, Cindy Spencer Pape, Moonlight & Mechanicals, →ISBN, page 90:

Mechanicals arose when advanced, organic societies somehow committed suicide, from war, degeneration, unimaginable things -- or retreated, from plain simple lack of interest in the tensions of the technological life.

2013, Gregory Benford, Sailing Bright Eternity: Galactic Centre, →ISBN:

This is an example of what can take place when mechanicals are programmed with human attributes and designed to interact closely with humans.

2013, Alan Dean Foster, Greenthieves, →ISBN:

(science fiction) A robot or mechanical creature.


flying saucer

From an interview given by amateur pilot Kenneth Arnold who described seeing nine flying objects that were "moving like saucers being skimmed across a lake". The description was not meant to describe the shape of the objects, only how they maneuvered, yet the misinterpretation took hold and gained popularity.

en:Flying saucer (confectionery)
en:flying saucer

Some connect the recent spate of flying saucer sightings with a rumored top-secret military aviation project.

An engram is NOT [...] One of the little green men Americans claim have crashed in flying saucers.

1950 December 6, The Sydney Morning Herald, page 3, column 5:

(informal) A disc-shaped unidentified flying object or UFO; originally in reference to sightings by aviator Kenneth Arnold in Washington in 1947.

թռչող ափսե

tʻṙčʻoġ apʻse

(science fiction) An alien interplanetary vessel, typically disc-shaped and of metallic construction.


ufo

Reading of UFO as a word in its own right.


ufo

Orthographic borrowing from English UFO.

(science fiction, ufology) Alternative spelling of UFO


ufo

ufo (indefinite nominative singular)
ufos (genitive indefinite singular)
ufot (definite nominative singular)
ufots (definite genitive singular)
ufon (indefinite nominative plural)
ufons (genitive indefinite plural)
ufona (definite nominative plural)
ufonas (definite genitive plural)

From English UFO (“unidentified flying object”).

der

Att vi i Sverige så påtagligt upplevde det kalla kriget måste nog tillskrivas det djupa intryck hos allmänheten, som 1980- och 1990-talens ubåtsincidenter skapade. Här skapade man framför allt i media en bild av främmande ubåtar, minifarkoster och närmast ufos, som utan motstånd trafikerade våra farvatten.

2011, Hans Wachtmeister, edited by Herman Fältström, Ytspänning: Ett seminarium om det kalla krigets verklighet [Surface tension: a seminar about the reality of the Cold War], →ISBN, page 12:

The fact that we felt the Cold War so tangibly in Sweden should probably be attributed to the deep public impression created by the submarine incidents of the 1980s and 1990s. Here, the media in particular created a picture of foreign submarines, mini vessels and almost UFOs, that travelled through our waters unimpeded.


unidentified flying object

en-noun

unidentified flying object (plural unidentified flying objects)

The phrase is usually attributed to US Air Force officer Edward J. Ruppelt (1923–1960) who coined it as a replacement of the terms flying saucer and flying disk.


philosopher's stone

philosopher's stone (plural philosopher's stones)

A misconstruction of philosophers' stone, from Middle English philosophres ston, a calque of Latin lapis philosophōrum.

[…] I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life.

1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 54:

1997, Christopher McIntosh, The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order, Weiser Books, 3rd Revised Edition, 1998, Paperback, page 51,
The Rosicrucianism of the Andreae era was only partly concerned with alchemy, but later revivals of the Rosicrucian idea were to lay great stress on their claims to possess the secrets of transmutation and the knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone or the Elixir of Life.

The Cleopatra of this early alchemical dialogue is not the famous Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC), last queen of the Ptolemy dynasty and lover of Mark Antony. Along with Mary Prophetess and Zosimos's Theosebia, this Cleopatra occupies a high place in alchemical lore as one of very few ancient female adepts who possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone.

2003, Stanton J. Linden, The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton, Cambridge University Press, page 44:

sorcerer's stone

putative substance able to turn base metals into gold

(alchemy) A supposed substance able to turn base metals, such as lead or mercury, into gold or silver, also sometimes claimed to cure any illness (as panacea) or confer immortality (as elixir of life), among other functions.


broomstick

Witches of all ages attended these lively gatherings by flying away on their broomsticks[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 106:

She really was a witch now. No one but a witch could fly a broomstick.

Harry ripped the parcel open and gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out onto his bedspread. [...] It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Harry had gone to see every day in Diagon Alley.

1999, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, →ISBN:

Greebo, hiccuping occasionally, oozed into his accustomed place among the bristles of Nanny’s broomstick. As they rose above the forest a thin plume of smoke also rose from the castle.

2002, Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad, page 97:

Most people are familiar with the age-old superstition that witches fly on broomsticks to their covens (though they were formerly also reputed to use shovels, cleft sticks, eggshells, ANIMALS and other means of flight).

2003, David Pickering, Cassell's Dictionary of Superstitions:

A broom imbued with magic, enabling one to fly astride the handle.


flan

Borrowed around 1846 from French flan (“cheesecake, custard tart, flan”), or in some uses (in reference to Spanish/Latin American flans) later from Spanish flan (itself from the French), both from Old French flaon (whence also Middle English flaon, flaun (“pie; cake”)), from Late Latin fladō (“flat cake”), from Frankish *flaþō (“flat cake”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“broad, flat”); compare German Fladen. Akin to Old High German flado (“flat cake, offering cake”). Doublet of flathe.
Although the -n is generally believed to derive from the Late Latin accusative form (fladonem) of fladō (“flat cake”), it might alternatively derive from an inflected form of the Frankish word (such as the Frankish accusative *flaþan, or the like). For a similar case, see garden.

cog

(numismatics) A coin die. (Compare planchet.)


Frankenstein

en-proper noun

Frankenstein (countable and uncountable, plural Frankensteins)

From German Frankenstein, various places named for Franken (“Franks, Frankish”) + Stein (“stone”). The use of referencing mad scientists derives from Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, where Victor Frankenstein assembles a man from pieces of various corpses and brings him to life with electricity. Use of the reference to the monster itself is an ellipsis of the earlier Frankenstein's monster, with the monster's usual modern appearance derived from Boris Karloff's performance in the 1931 film Frankenstein.

In the same year, a kiln of the same size was built in Frankenstein in the Silesian region, but the purpose of this kiln was to treat low-grade nickel ore, and it had a capacity for treating 80,000 tons a year.

1998, Akira Kudō, chapter 5, in J.A.A. Stockwin, editor, Japanese-German Business Relations: Co-operation and Rivalry in the Interwar Period, London: Routledge, published 2001, →ISBN, page 90:

Ząbkowice Śląskie
Ząbkowice Śląskie#English

Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship#English

(historical) A former name of Ząbkowice Śląskie, a town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland.

(fiction) Victor Frankenstein, a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

(fiction, sometimes proscribed) The unnamed monster created by Victor Frankenstein: a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus as the main antagonist.


Frankenstein

de:Frankenstein
de:Frankenstein (Familienname)
de:Frankenstein (Pfalz)

de-proper noun

Frankenstein m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Frankensteins or (with an article) Frankenstein, feminine genitive Frankenstein, plural Frankensteins)

Frankensteins (genitive masculine)
Frankenstein (genitive masculine)
Frankenstein (feminine genitive)
Frankensteins (plural)
Frankenstein (masculine nominative singular)
Frankenstein (feminine nominative singular)
Frankensteins (definite nominative plural)
Frankensteins (genitive masculine singular)
Frankenstein (genitive masculine singular)
Frankenstein (feminine genitive singular)
Frankensteins (definite genitive plural)
Frankenstein (dative masculine singular)
Frankenstein (dative feminine singular)
Frankensteins (dative definite plural)
Frankenstein (accusative masculine singular)
Frankenstein (accusative feminine singular)
Frankensteins (accusative definite plural)

English: Frankenstein

French: Frankenstein

Occitan: Franquenstein

Spanish: Frankenstein

[ˈfʁaŋkŋ̩ˌʃtaɪ̯n]

Literally meaning "stone of the franks," from Franken + Stein.


faster-than-light

en-adj

faster-than-light (comparative form only)

Faster-than-light drives use element zero cores to reduce the mass of a ship, allowing higher rates of acceleration. This effectively raises the speed of light within the mass effect field, allowing high speed travel with negligible relativistic time dilation effects.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: FTL Drive Codex entry:

(physics) Faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, the theoretical speed limit for travel within the universe.


time travel

(chiefly science fiction) Travel to the past or to the future, typically by means of a time machine or a wormhole.

пътуване във времето

hypothetical or fictional travel to the past or future


tachyon

Formed as: tachy- + -on, from ταχύς (takhús, “swift”, “rapid”).
Coined by American physicist Gerald Feinberg in 1967.

coin

(physics) A hypothetical particle that travels faster than the speed of light.


time machine

H. G. Wells
The Time Machine
Time Machine

Coined by H. G. Wells in his novel The Time Machine (1895).

If I had a time machine / And if life was a movie scene / I'd rewind, and I'd tell me / "Ru-u-u-u-u-u-u-un"

2014, Ingrid Michaelson, Trent Dabbs, busbee (lyrics and music), “Time Machine”, in Lights Out, performed by Ingrid Michaelson:

(chiefly science fiction) A hypothetical device used to travel into the past or the future.


wormhole

1590s. From worm + hole. In the scientific sense, introduced by John Archibald Wheeler in 1957.

[…]where there is a net flux of lines of force, through what topologists would call "a handle" of the multiply-connected space, and what physicists might perhaps be excused for more vividly terming a "wormhole".

1957 December, Charles W. Misner, John Archibald Wheeler, “Classical Physics as Geometry”, in Annals of Physics, volume 2, number 6, pages 525–603:

Wormhole distortion has overloaded main power systems!

1979, Alan Dean Foster, Harold Livingston, directed by Robert Wise, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, spoken by Commander Willard Decker (Stephen Collins):

I think the wormhole that we used to travel here passed directly through this planet's sun.

2001, Ron Wilkerson, “Red Sky”, in Martin Wood, director, Stargate SG-1, season 5, episode 5, spoken by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping):

(relativity) A hypothetical shortcut between two points in spacetime, permitting faster-than-light travel and sometimes time travel.

ثَقْب دُودِيّ

a shortcut between distant parts of space


tesseract

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-tesseract.wav

From tessara- (“four-”) + Ancient Greek ἀκτίς (aktís, “ray”).

af

"I shall just sit down for a moment and pop on my boots and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."

1962, Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, published 2019, unnumbered page:

(science fiction) Any of various fictional mechanisms that explain extradimensional, superluminal, or time travel outside the geometry of the physical universe.


Trekker

(fandom slang) A fan of the TV science fiction series Star Trek.


tribble

Probably invented for alliteration with trouble; the creatures first appeared in an episode called "The Trouble with Tribbles".

Scales have proliferated like tribbles in quadra-triticale: just intonations, equal temperaments, scales based on overtones, scales generated from a single interval or pair of intervals, scales without octaves, scales arising from arcane mathematical formulas, scales that reflect cosmological or religious structures, scales that "come from the heart."

1998, William A. Sethares, Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale, page 49:

The Hyper-Producing Playwrights of Edmondton: Or Why Alberta’s Capital Breeds New Plays Like Tribbles.

2008, Robin C. Whittaker, editor, Hot Thespian Action!, page 569:

They were like tribbles, multiplying by the dozens, cackling, giggling their maniacal joy at the game.

2010, Dakota Cassidy, chapter 19, in Accidentally Demonic:

They breed like tribbles, but at least they’re not terrestrial.

2015, Zanzibar 7. Schwarzenegger, Veneri Verbum, page 19:

A fictional alien creature in Star Trek, a fast-breeding, cooing ball of fur.


elixir of life

(alchemy) A substance which when drunk brings immortality: eternal life, eternal youth.


stunner

March holstered his pistol, reached into his coat, and drew out his own neural stunner, shifting the weapon to his right hand.

2018, Jonathan Moeller, Silent Order: Omnibus One:

(science fiction) A pistol firing a beam capable of stunning an enemy.


adamantine

en-adj

adamantine (comparative more adamantine, superlative most adamantine)

more adamantine (comparative)
most adamantine (superlative)

From Middle English adamantine, from Latin adamantinus, equivalent to adamant + -ine.

adamantine bonds

adamantine chains

Him the Almighty Power
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie
With hideous ruine and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 44–49:

Snatch, snatch those gentle forms from war's alarms,
And throw your adamantine shield around their shrinking charms.

1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, Missolonghi, page 187:

For two hours they stand; Bouillé's sword glittering in his hand, adamantine resolution clouding his brows[.]

1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

1984, Gayle Rubin, "Thinking Sex" in Carole S. Vance, Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul), 267-319.
Sex law is the most adamantine instrument of sexual stratification and erotic persecution.

Made of adamant, or having the qualities of adamant; incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated.


phase

en-verb

phase (third-person singular simple present phases, present participle phasing, simple past and past participle phased)

phases (present singular third-person)
phasing (participle present)
phased (participle past)
phased (past)

From New Latin phasis, from Ancient Greek φάσις (phásis, “an appearance”), from φάω (pháō, “to shine”); compare phantasm and see face.


metaverse

From meta- + (uni)verse. Analyzable as meta- + -verse. In the sci-fi sense coined by American science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in 1992.

coin

It is closer, in other words, to another science fiction vision, the “metaverse” Neal Stephenson envisioned in his 1992 Snow Crash. That particular moniker has not caught on, but many of Stephenson's ideas about what the on-line world can look like are driving a new generation of entrepreneurs to try to match it.

1997 July 7, Zina Moukheiber, “The geeks have inherited the earth”, in Forbes, →ISSN, pages 354–356:

But now, with 350 million players who are used to hanging out in a vibrant, ridiculous online world filled with dancing bananas and cartoon skirmishes, Party Royale could be the experience that finally realises the idea of a playful, mass participation online metaverse.

2020 May 15, Keith Stuart, “Fortnite Party Royale is the most fun you can have in the metaverse”, in The Guardian:

Video games like Roblox and Fortnite and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in which players can build their own worlds, have metaverse tendencies, as does most social media. If you own a non-fungible token or even just some crypto, you’re part of the metaversal experience. Virtual and augmented reality are, at a minimum, metaverse adjacent.

2021 July 10, John Herrman, Kellen Browning, “Are We in the Metaverse Yet?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the world of Snow Crash, the metaverse is not viewed as particularly cool—it is necessary, because the real world has become so unbearable.

2021 July 30, Brian Merchant, “The Metaverse Has Always Been a Dystopian Idea”, in VICE:

The metaverse is the convergence of two ideas that have been around for many years: virtual reality and a digital second life.

2022 January 18, Brian X. Chen, “What’s All the Hype About the Metaverse?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(science fiction, Internet) A hypothetical future (counterpart or continuation of the) Internet, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space.


ET

en-noun

ET (countable and uncountable, plural ETs)

(uncountable) Initialism of Eastern Time (-5 hours to GMT).


ET

(ufology) Abbreviation of extraterrestre.


Force

Coined by American filmmaker George Lucas

coin

(Star Wars) force (always proceeded with la), the invisible omnipresent energy that the Jedi and the Sith wield in Star Wars


fen

From fan, by analogy with men as the plural of man.

Sad to relate, some of the European delegates were probably insurgents rather than true fen. […] But the Europeans could be counted on to take the long view, and many of them would probably turn out to be real fen and fenne after all.

1951 May 21, Winthrop Sargeant, “Through the Interstellar Looking Glass”, in Life, volume 30, number 21, page 127:

So I’m glad the attached hotel block is entirely reserved for disabled fen! Traveling on mass transit is tiring even when everything’s up to code.

2016 September 3, lurkertype, “Worldcon 75 Chair Responds”, in File 770, Comments:

(fandom slang) a plural of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc.


unobtanium

en-noun

unobtanium (countable and uncountable, plural unobtaniums)

Thus the invention of high temperature fuels will enable us to consider cores which are radiation cooled; such cores would be surrounded by large tanks (cooled by water) which in turn would be penetrated by beam holes. The beam holes themselves would probably have to be made of "unobtanium". (This "unobtanium" is a word coined at Atomics International to describe the material needed to make reactor projects feasible.) In between the radiation cooled reactors and the water cooled reactors is a regime suitable for liquid metal (including boiling liquid) cooled reactors. Once again "unobtanium" is needed.

1962, Charles N. Kelber, “Research Reactors”, in Earl W. Phelan, editor, Current Trends in Nuclear Power: A Symposium Sponsored by the University of Arizona in Cooperation with Argonne National Laboratory: Tucson, Arizona, February 26 – March 12, 1962, Argonne, Ill.: Argonne National Laboratory, →OCLC, page 17, column 2:

As early as 1969, during the initial Phase A studies, Lockheed had taken the initiative in proposing a two-stage fully-reusable design with both stages built of aluminum and using silica tiles for thermal protection. [...] Though that company indeed was in the forefront in developing such tiles, they were items for laboratory research. A design that specified their use had no more intrinsic credibility than one that proposed to use the miracle metals Unobtanium and Wishalloy.

1999, T[homas] A. Heppenheimer, “A Shuttle to Fit the Budget”, in The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA’s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle (The NASA History Series; NASA SP-4221), Washington, D.C.: Office of Policy and Plans, NASA History Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, →OCLC, page 331:

It was this blend of genuine, authentic Bentley parts with his recreations of the unobtanium bits that had Patrick thinking that this ruse would actually work.

2011, Kevin Gosselin, chapter 27, in Hunt for the Blower Bentley, London: MX Publishing, →ISBN:

We might recognize, here, the blind pursuit of our own unobtaniums and the ways in which our ancestors forged ahead without care for the consequences of their actions to native peoples or to their environs.

2012, Ellen Grabiner, “Did You See That?”, in Donald E. Palumbo, C. W. Sullivan III, editors, I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James Cameron’s Avatar (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy; 34), Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 22:

[D]oes our device require any technologies that we're not likely to be able to develop, buy, or otherwise obtain? This unobtainable content is sometimes called unobtanium, and can take various forms: [...] Things that exist, but don't exist for us. If Acer needs a beautiful custom 15″ LCD panel that costs less than $50, they can get it, because they'll buy millions and millions of them. But for the vast majority of us, asking an LCD panel vendor for such a thing will yield little more than a chuckle.

2015 August 10, Alan Cohen, “Preliminary Planning: Can This be a Success?”, in Mike Loukides, Meghan Blanchette, editors, Prototype to Product: A Practical Guide for Getting to Market, Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 110:

People who think about space end up thinking about bullshit like Star Wars and Star Trek. [...] They have to invent unobtaniums, magic crystals that, for some reason, can't just be printed out by their transporter beams, or there's no story.

2017 April, Cory Doctorow, edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Walkaway: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, section V, pages 186–187:


anti-gravity

(science fiction) Any concept, system or device that would oppose or cancel out the force of gravity.


blast

en-verb

blast (third-person singular simple present blasts, present participle blasting, simple past and past participle blasted)

blasts (present singular third-person)
blasting (participle present)
blasted (participle past)
blasted (past)

⇒ Italian: blastare

From Middle English blasten, blesten, from Old English blǣstan (“to blow, blast”), from Proto-West Germanic *blēstijan, from Proto-Germanic *blēstijaną. Possibly related to Middle High German blesten (“to stand out, plop, splash”).

noncog

Chewbacca blasted the Stormtroopers with his laser rifle.

(transitive, science fiction) To shoot, especially with an energy weapon (as opposed to one which fires projectiles).


shield

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”).
Compare Latin scūtum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian щит (ščit, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).

noncog

Kinetic barriers, colloquially called "shields", provide protection against most mass accelerator weapons. Whether on a starship or a soldier's suit of armor, the basic principle remains the same.
Kinetic barriers are repulsive mass effect fields projected from tiny emitters. These shields safely deflect small objects traveling at rapid velocities. This affords protection from bullets and other dangerous projectiles, but still allows the user to sit down without knocking away their chair.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Kinetic Barriers ("Shields") Codex entry:

Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.

(science fiction) A field of energy that protects or defends.

schild

sci fi: a field of energy that protects or defends


cyborg

Blend of cybernetic + organism. Coined by Austrian neuroscientist Manfred Clynes in 1960.

coinage

I would not classify the Tin Woodman as magical robot, but more of a magical cyborg, if anything.

1981, Teri (Pettit at PARC-MAXC), fa.sf-lovers newsgroup, "Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #122", May 15

Prof. Clynes is a published poet and author of five books. He coined the word "cyborg". He also coined the word "sentics" to describe a new science entirely of his own devising.

1991, Timothy K. Smith, "Manfred Clynes Sees A Pattern in Love -- He's Got the Printouts", The Wall Street Journal, September 24, front page

... Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading University. Warwick is no stranger to publicity. His autobiography, I, Cyborg, which came out last month (Century, £16.99), meticulously catalogues his very many newspaper, magazine, radio and TV appearances. With commendable honesty, he also acknowledges the amount of (unfair, obviously) criticism he has received for being greedy for media attention. That isn't the main thrust of the book, though, which is rather an account of why he is turning himself into a cyborg.

2002 September 19, “Short Cuts”, in London Review of Books, volume 24, number 18, Thomas Jones:

The cyborg subject, with its pacemakers, drug regimes and artificial limbs, is usually also the first world middle to upper-class economic subject with a conscious incentive to preserve life for as long as possible under the best possible conditions.

2003, David Simpson, "Are we still tragic?", guardian.co.uk (exclusive from London Review of Books Vol. 25 No. 7, April 3), April 1

On the track of John and Kate is the T-X (Kristanna Loken), a blond female cyborg so metallically single-minded, and so impervious to blandishment and punishment alike, that, from where I was sitting, she looked to be our best hope of getting a woman into the Oval Office.

2003 July 14, Anthony Lane, “The Current Cinema -- Metal Guru”, in The New Yorker:

(science fiction) A being which is part machine and part organic.


cyborg

en-verb

cyborg (third-person singular simple present cyborgs, present participle cyborging, simple past and past participle cyborged)

cyborgs (present singular third-person)
cyborging (participle present)
cyborged (participle past)
cyborged (past)

(science fiction) To convert (something) into a cyborg.


cyborg

Unadapted borrowing from English cyborg.


cyborg

cyborg (nominative singular)
cyborgi (nominative plural)
cyborga (genitive singular)
cyborgów (genitive plural)
cyborgowi (dative singular)
cyborgom (dative plural)
cyborga (accusative singular)
cyborgi (accusative plural)
cyborgiem (instrumental singular)
cyborgami (instrumental plural)
cyborgu (locative singular)
cyborgach (locative plural)
cyborgu (singular vocative)
cyborgi (plural vocative)

Orthographic borrowing from English cyborg.

obor

(robotics, science fiction) cyborg (being which is part machine and part organic)


waldo

From the Robert A. Heinlein story Waldo, published in Astounding in 1940, derived from the name of the eponymous protagonist, Waldo F. Jones, who invented remote manipulators to overcome his own myasthenia gravis.

Waldo flexed and extended his fingers gently; the two pairs of waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.


rishathra

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-rishathra.wav

Generalized from the term coined by author Larry Niven in his Ringworld novels.

(science fiction) Sex between any two (or more) humanoids of different species.


hir

head

hir (third-person singular, gender-neutral, objective case, reflexive hirself)

en-pron

But once the disorientation had passed, hir forced hirself back to full consciousness--and worked quickly to establish hir position, and Ruskin's.

1988, Jeffrey Carver, From a Changeling Star, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 232:

I don't know what Scratch looks like in the real world, I met hir online.

1996 June, Caitlin Sullivan with Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure, New York: Serpent's Tail, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, page 10:

Words like "freak" became attached to hir name, and I don't believe "brave" was ever a word the media associated with hir.

1997 December 18, Kate Bornstein, My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, London, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC HQ1075.B69 1998, page 130:

T'Pau leveled a gaze at hir. "You are male and female ... and neither. 'It' is the proper word. We have no use for semantic games on Vulcan."

2000 August 29, Peter David, Renaissance (Star Trek New Frontier: Excalibur #10), Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, page 137:

(nonstandard) Them (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, coordinate with him and her.


cloak

en-verb

cloak (third-person singular simple present cloaks, present participle cloaking, simple past and past participle cloaked)

cloaks (present singular third-person)
cloaking (participle present)
cloaked (participle past)
cloaked (past)

From Middle English cloke, from Old Northern French cloque (“travelling cloak”), from Medieval Latin clocca (“travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos, ultimately imitative.
Doublet of cloche and clock.

onomatopoeic

imitative

The ship cloaked before entering the enemy sector of space.

(science fiction, transitive, intransitive) To render or become invisible via futuristic technology.


decant

en-verb

decant (third-person singular simple present decants, present participle decanting, simple past and past participle decanted)

decants (present singular third-person)
decanting (participle present)
decanted (participle past)
decanted (past)

From French décanter, from Medieval Latin dēcanthāre, from dē- + canthus (“beak of a cup or jug”).

“We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future …” He was going to say “future World controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead.

(science fiction) To remove (a clone or other artificially-gestated baby) from its chamber, vat, or artificial womb.


stasis

en-noun

stasis (usually uncountable, plural stases)

From New Latin stasis, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis). See the doublet stead.

(science fiction) A technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time, so that it does not age or change.

pysäytin

scifi: technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time


nave

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese nave, from Latin nāvis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Doublet of nau.

inh+

(colloquial, usually in science fiction) Ellipsis of nave espacial (“spaceship”).


berserker

Illustrations of Northern Antiquities
Swedish History Museum
Torslunda plates
Walter Scott

Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), suggesting warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserk.
The word was introduced in English by the Scottish author and historian Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814) (spelled berserkir), and in his novel The Pirate (1822) (spelled berserkar). The sense “type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms” was coined by the American author Fred Saberhagen (1930–2007) in 1963 in his Berserker series of novels and short stories.
cognates
* Icelandic berserkur
* Swedish bärsärk

ref

From the collection of the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

coinage

(science fiction) A type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms.


soma

Transliteration of Sanskrit सोम (soma). Doublet of haoma.

[…] there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon […]

1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, London: Chatto & Windus:

(by extension, science fiction) Any kind of intoxicating drug.


corvette

Unadapted borrowing from French corvette.

ubor

(nautical) In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role


beam

en-verb

beam (third-person singular simple present beams, present participle beaming, simple past and past participle beamed)

beams (present singular third-person)
beaming (participle present)
beamed (participle past)
beamed (past)

→ German: beamen

→ Dutch: beamen

→ Japanese: ビーム

From Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (“tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood, beam, splint, post, stock, rafter, piece of wood”), from Proto-West Germanic *baum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, beam, balk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, swell”). Cognate with West Frisian beam (“tree”), Saterland Frisian Boom (“tree”), Dutch boom (“tree”), German Low German Boom (“tree”), German Baum (“tree”), Luxembourgish Bam (“tree”), Albanian bimë (“a plant”). Doublet of boom.
The original English meaning of beam ("tree") is preserved in some compound words such as quickbeam.
The verb is from Middle English bemen, from Old English bēamian (“to shine, to cast forth rays or beams of light”), from the noun.

inh

Beam me up, Scotty; there's no intelligent life down here.

The injured crewmembers were immediately beamed to sickbay.

Beam me up (x4) / Beam me up town / Beam me down (x3) / Beam me back downtown

2010, “Beam Me Up”, in Walking the Midnight Streets, performed by Midnight Magic:

(transitive, science fiction) To transmit matter or information via a high-tech wireless mechanism.

säteilyttää

scifi: to transmit over high-tech wireless mechanism


punk

en-noun

punk (countable and uncountable, plural punks)

Uncertain. Possibly from punk ("rotten wood dust used as tinder", attested since 1678; see Etymology 2 below) to anything worthless (attested since 1869) and then to any undesirable person (since 1908).

gl

(uncountable, science fiction) Any of the punk genres: dieselpunk, solarpunk, steampunk etc.


Star Wars

[ˈstɑɹ ˈwɔɹz]

[ˈstɑ˞ ˈwɔɹz]

From the original name of the science fantasy motion picture Star Wars (1977).

Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative

(informal, military) The United States Strategic Defense Initiative.


sci-fi

(colloquial) Clipping of science fiction.


dieselpunk

Coordinate term: steampunk

In other words, steampunk explores adjustment to an industrial culture from the opposite direction to cyberpunk -- but has very much the same agenda. Me, I'm trying to write dieselpunk ...

2002 November 20, Charlie Stross, “Re: What "steampunk" genre?”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet):

[…] post-apocalyptic dieselpunk action adventure […]

2007, Sean Demory, quoted in Brian McTavish, "Kansas City writer, artist publish digital comic book for cell phones", in The Kansas City Star, 2007 July 25, page F3

BioShock isn't steampunk, it's dieselpunk.

2010 March 19, Teresa Lott, “Re: I hate steampunk...”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet):

A genre of science fiction and art that combines fictional retrofuturistic elements with the technology, culture, and aesthetics of the period of history beginning in the interbellum between World War I and World War II and ending around the 1950s (known as the "diesel era" within the dieselpunk community).


Wookiee

What's this guy tryinna [sic] disappear behind you, a Wookie? [sic]

1985, Stephen King, Peter Straub, The Talisman, page 341:

I backed it out to the dirt road, and the door to the double-wide opened and a big guy, more Wookiee than human being, filled the doorway.

2009, Janet Evanovich, Plum Spooky, page 98:

Kevin whined, his Wookiee face showing hurt somewhere beneath the dark glasses.

2009, Jaqueline Girdner, Murder, My Deer, page 115:

A member of a fictional race of tall, hairy bipeds in the universe of the Star Wars motion pictures.


science fiction

en-noun

science fiction (usually uncountable, plural science fictions)

From science + fiction; apparently coined in 1851 by W. Wilson.

Some people consider motion pictures such as the Star Wars movies more as fantasies than science fiction.

Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology.

1975 April 14, Isaac Asimov, “How Easy to See the Future!”, in Natural History, volume 84, number 4, New York: American Museum of Natural History, →ISSN, page 92, column 2:

Fiction in which advanced technology or science is a key element.


science fiction

pl-noun

science fiction n (indeclinable, abbreviation s.f. or SF)

Unadapted borrowing from English science fiction.

ubor

elementy science fiction

(literature) science fiction (genre of fiction)


science fiction

pl-adj

science fiction (not comparable, no derived adverb)

opowiadanie science fiction

(literature, postpositive, relational) science fiction (genre of fiction)


miniature

/ˈmɪn(i)ət͡ʃʊəɹ/

/ˈmɪnɪt͡ʃəɹ/

Borrowed from Italian miniatura (“manuscript illumination”), from miniare (“to illuminate”), from Latin miniō (“to colour red”), from minium (“red lead”).

bor

(chess) A chess game which is concluded with very few moves.


battleship

From battle + ship; shortened from line-of-battle ship, attested 1794.

Schlachtschiff n. Schlachtschiff is used for dreadnought battleships

Linienschiff is used for pre-dreadnought battleships.

(military, nautical) A large capital warship displacing thousands to tens of thousands of tons, heavily armoured and armed with large-caliber guns; now obsolescent and replaced by smaller vessels with guided missiles.


ansible

Coined by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin in 1966 in her novella Rocannon's World; Le Guin states that she derived it from answerable. The word was further spread by its adoption into other science fiction worlds, including by Orson Scott Card in Ender's Game (1986), Vernor Vinge in The Blabber (1988) and Dan Simmons in Hyperion (1989).

coin

“You remember the ansible, the machine I showed you in the ship, which can speak instantly to other worlds, with no loss of years– […] ”
“An ansible would theoretically be powered by subatomic particles that have undergone quantum entanglement, which utilizes Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance', allowing the alteration of one particle to instantaneously alter the state of its paired particle. […] ”

1966, Ursula K. Le Guin, Rocannon's World, reprinted in Worlds of Exile and Illusion, Macmillan (1996), page 25

“[…] The master ansible is there, in contact with all our invasion fleet; the ships are all working, ready to fight. […]”

1985, Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, reprinted by Macmillan, published 2002, →ISBN, page 251:

Ky had allotted two hours here, time to strip the news from the ansible, share it, even discuss it, but she didn’t plan to have everyone clustered and vulnerable.

2008, Elizabeth Moon, Victory Conditions, reprint by Random House, published 2009, →ISBN, page 39:

(science fiction) A hypothetical device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances; that is, a faster-than-light communication device.

Dan Simmons
Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card
Rocannon's World
Vernor Vinge