science fiction

See also: science-fiction, Science-fiction, Science-Fiction, and Sciencefiction

English

Cover of Rocket to the Moon, a 1951 science fiction comic book.

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• science-fiction

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪəns ˌfɪkʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sci‧ence fic‧tion
• Rhymes: -ɪkʃən

Noun

science fiction (usually uncountable, plural science fictions)

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

   Synonyms: (dated) scientific romance, (dated) scientifiction, sci-fi, SF, skiffy, stf

   Hypernyms: imaginative fiction, non-mimetic fiction, SF/F/H, speculative fiction

   Hyponyms: hard science fiction, proto-science fiction, soft science fiction

   Coordinate terms: fantasy, horror

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

   • 1975 April, 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:

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

2. (by extension) Technology that, while theoretically possible, is not yet practical.

   Despite decades of research, mass-market personal aircraft are still science fiction.

Antonyms

• science fact

Derived terms

• hard science fiction
• military science fiction
• science fact
• science faction
• science fantasy
• science-fictionish
• science-fictiony
• soft science fiction

 

Translations

fiction genre

• Afrikaans: wetenskapfiksie (af)
• Arabic: خَيَال عِلْمِيّ m (ḵayāl ʕilmiyy)
• Azerbaijani: elmi fantastika
• Belarusian: навуко́вая фанта́стыка f (navukóvaja fantástyka), фанта́стыка f (fantástyka)
• Bulgarian: нау́чна фанта́стика f (naúčna fantástika)
• Catalan: ciència-ficció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 科學幻想／科学幻想 (zh) (kēxué huànxiǎng), 科幻 (zh) (kēhuàn), 科學虛構／科学虚构 (kēxué xūgòu)

• Dutch: sciencefiction (nl) m or f
• Finnish: tieteiskirjallisuus (fi)
• French: science-fiction (fr)
• Galician: ciencia ficción (gl) f
• Georgian: სამეცნიერო ფანტასტიკა (samecniero panṭasṭiḳa)
• German: Science-Fiction (de) f
• Greek: επιστημονική φαντασία (el) f (epistimonikí fantasía)
• Hebrew: מַדָּע בִּדְיוֹנִי (he) m (madá bid'yóni)
• Hungarian: tudományos fantasztikum, tudományos-fantasztikus irodalom/műfaj, sci-fi (hu)
• Icelandic: vísindaskáldskapur m
• Indonesian: fiksi ilmiah
• Irish: ficsean eolaíochta m
• Italian: fantascienza (it) f
• Japanese: SF (ja) (esuefu), 空想科学小説 (kūsō kagaku shōsetsu), サイエンスフィクション (ja) (saiensu fikushon)
• Kazakh: ғылыми фантастика (ğylymi fantastika)
• Korean: 과학소설(科學小說) (ko) (gwahaksoseol), 사이언스 픽션 (saieonseu piksyeon), 공상과학 소설(空想科學小說) (gongsanggwahak soseol)
• Kyrgyz: илимий фантастика (ilimiy fantastika)
• Latin: scientia ficticia f
• Macedonian: научна фантастика f (naučna fantastika)
• Malay: fiksyen sains
• Maori: pohewa pūtaiao, paki pohewa pūtaiao
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: шинжлэх ухаан уран зөгнөл (šinžlex uxaan uran zögnöl), шинжлэх ухааны хий бодол (šinžlex uxaany xii bodol) (China)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠢᠨᠵᠢᠯᠡᠬᠦ
  ᠤᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ
  ᠤᠷᠠᠨ
  ᠵᠥᠩᠨᠡᠯ (sinǰilekü uqaɣan uran ǰöngnel), ᠰᠢᠨᠵᠢᠯᠡᠬᠦ
  ᠤᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠦ
  ᠬᠡᠢ
  ᠪᠣᠳᠤᠯ (sinǰilekü uqaɣan-ü kei bodul)

• Occitan: sciéncia-ficcion f
• Persian: علمی تخیلی ('elmi taxayyoli)
• Polish: fantastyka naukowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: ficção científica (pt) f
• Romanian: știință-ficțiune f, science-fiction (ro) n
• Russian: фанта́стика (ru) f (fantástika), нау́чная фанта́стика (ru) f (naúčnaja fantástika)
• Scottish Gaelic: ficsean saidheans m
• Slovak: vedecká fantastika f
• Slovene: znanstvena fantastika f
• Spanish: ciencia ficción (es) f
• Swahili: sayansi ya kubuniwa
• Swedish: science fiction (sv)
• Tagalog: kathang-agham
• Tajik: илмӣ-тахайюлӣ (ilmi-taxayyuli)
• Thai: นวนิยายวิทยาศาสตร์
• Turkish: bilim kurgu (tr)
• Ukrainian: науко́ва фанта́стика f (naukóva fantástyka), фанта́стика f (fantástyka)
• Uzbek: ilmiy fantastika
• Vietnamese: khoa học viễn tưởng (vi), khoa học giả tưởng
• Yiddish: פֿאַקטאַזיע f (faktazye)

technology which is not yet practical

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 科學幻想／科学幻想 (zh) (kēxué huànxiǎng), 科幻 (zh) (kēhuàn)

• Dutch: sciencefiction (nl) m or f, toekomstmuziek (nl) f or c
• Finnish: tieteiskirjallisuus (fi)
• French: science-fiction (fr) f
• German: Science-Fiction (de) f, Zukunftsmusik (de) f
• Icelandic: framtíðarmúsík f
• Irish: fantaisíocht f
• Portuguese: ficção científica (pt) f
• Russian: фанта́стика (ru) f (fantástika)
• Slovene: znanstvena fantastika f
• Turkish: bilim kurgu (tr)

Further reading

• science fiction on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English science fiction.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsa.jɛns ˈfik.ʂɘn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

Noun

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

1. (literature) science fiction (genre of fiction)

   Synonym: fantastyka naukowa

   elementy science fiction ― science fiction elements

2. (colloquial) something inconceivable, something incredible, something unbelievable

   polityczne science fiction ― political science fiction

   • 2013, “Łódź żyje Janowiczem. To jakieś „science fiction””, in Wprost‎^[1]:

     – To dla nas jakieś science fiction. Nie wiemy, w jakim świecie żyjemy. To jest po prostu coś nieprawdopodobnego – mówi Ewa Nadel, prezes klubu, którego zawodnikiem jest Janowicz.

     “This is unbelievable. We don't know what world we live in. This is just something inconceivable,” says Ewa Nadel, president of the club whose player is Janowicz.

Adjective

science fiction (not comparable, no derived adverb)

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

   Synonym: fantastycznonaukowy

   opowiadanie science fiction ― science fiction short story

2. (postpositive) inconceivable, incredible, unbelievable

Further reading

• science fiction I in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• science fiction II in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• science fiction in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English science fiction.

Noun

science fiction

1. science fiction

   Hennes favoritgenre var science fiction

   Her favorite genre was science fiction

References

• science fiction in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• science fiction in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)