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General mechano- (early 20th century) electro- (1910 or so) morpho- dyna- gravi- robo- (since the 1920s) atomic (particularly during the 1950s) cyber- (relatively new, since the 1960s) compu- (predates cyber-) neuro- cyclo- synchro- turbo- meta- (lit. "above", colloquially "beyond" or "about/to itself") -tron -tor -ite (for minerals/ores) -ium (for elements) e- i- (and it must always be lowercase i, then capital , eg iCarly) -oid (like, but not quite the same, e.g. humanoid, jokeoid) -izer (mostly for ray guns ) -inator matrix fusion (possibly used in conjunction with "core" and/or "crystallic". Or if something goes wrong, the words "reactor", "self-destruct" and/or "meltdown") SI scale units macro- (big) mega- (millions) giga- (billions) tera- (trillions) peta- (quadrillions) micro- (small) nano- (even smaller, see Nanomachines ) pico- (smaller still) femto- (really small) Particles atomic (in The '50s , everything was atomic) nuclear nucleo- quantum photon proton neutron electron molecular positron tachyon lambda muon ion particle (used unqualified) gluon graviton Beams laser graser (like a laser, but with gamma rays!) maser (like a laser, but with microwaves!note masers were actually built/discovered first ) uvaser (Like a laser, but it'll cause instant terminal sunburn!) iraser (Like a laser, but in infrared!) xaser (blah, blah, blah, x-rays!) taser phaser blazer stazer bananafanafofaser Gauss Outer Space space- -space (Hyperspace , Slipspace , Subspace ...) star galactic/intergalactic vortex astro- cosmo- hyper- warp phase (sub)orbit(al) planetary/interplanetary stellar/interstellar flux drive (NASA spacecraft engines are called "engines." You never hear of a 747 powered by a "jet drive", do you?) (function or location) node Steampunk apparatus pneumatic gyro- aether magna- or magneto- -graph