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Sci-Fi Name Buzzwords

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List of commonly employed Sci-Fi Name Buzzwords:

  • 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 )
      • 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

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