steampunk
English
WOTD – 26 March 2017
A steampunked mobile home called the “Neverwas Haul” at the 2010 Burning Man event in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
A man at the Greenbelt Maker Faire in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, wearing a steampunk-style artificial arm
Etymology
steam + -punk, by analogy with cyberpunk, coined by science-fiction writer Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) in a 1987 letter to the magazine Locus in response to a review of his book Infernal Devices published the same year (see the quotation below).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈstiːm.pʌŋk/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Hyphenation: steam‧punk
Noun
steampunk (countable and uncountable, plural steampunks)
- (uncountable) A subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian style and aesthetics, such as steam-powered machines and vehicles, visible gears and screws and people dressed in 19th-century attires.
- 1987 May, James Blaylock, Locus, volume 20, number 5 (#316 overall), page 57:
- There's railroad trains, a lot of steam-driven stuff, but that's about it. More ‘steam punk’, I suppose.
- 2008 May 8, Ruth La Ferla, “Steampunk moves between 2 worlds”, in The New York Times:
- It is also the vision of steampunk, a subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass diving bells and jar-shaped protosubmarines.
- 2021 November 3, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Boxes with functions across the centuries”, in RAIL, number 943, page 57:
- The [Arboath North Signal Box] locking room's collection of chains, pulleys and wires resembles the inside of a piano, stretching to the 72-levered frame above. Lovers of steampunk will find it especially pleasing.
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- (countable) A writer of steampunk fiction.
- 1987 April, Kevin Wayne Jeter, “[Untitled letter]”, in Locus, volume 20, number 4 (#315 overall), page 57:
- Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, [James] Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like steam-punks, perhaps...
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- (countable, cosplay) A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.
- 2009 September, Klaude Davenport, “An interview with Emmett and Klaude Davenport of the Clockwork Cabaret”, in Exhibition Hall, number 1, page 6:
- It wound up being an overwhelmingly positive experience that made me appreciate the steampunks around me even more.
- 2010 September 24, John Naylor, “Re: [Steam-Scholars] Hello again and a query”, in steam-scholars mailing list, message-ID <45b85.6b512dc6.39cddc00@aol.com>:
- It is extremely rare that you speak to someone who says "I want to be an ...." This would suggest that for the vast majority of steampunks their choice of outfit (at least intitially) is less a conscious attempt at portrayal and more of a spontaneous and potentially subconscious growth of an idea.
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Derived terms
- steampunker
- steampunkish
- steampunky
Translations
subgenre of speculative science fiction
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Verb
steampunk (third-person singular simple present steampunks, present participle steampunking, simple past and past participle steampunked)
- (transitive) To depict in a steampunk manner.
- 2011 October 26, John Lui, “Musketeers victim of identity crisis [review of The Three Musketeers (2011)]”, in The Straits Times (Life! section), Singapore:
- [Director Paul W.S.] Anderson's answer to the question of what to update in this film seems to be: steampunk everything. Hence the elaborate airship contraptions and weapons, all made in wood and iron and powered by choo-choo engines. What seems to be missing is the why. When far-fetched techno-bits and bobs are put into a story, these items must have a meaning and purpose. Here, the gadgets are throwaway items used for their visual effect, then discarded.
- 2012, Sybil Fogg, “Mechomancy: Steampunk Sensibilities in Pagan Traditions”, in Llewellyn's 2013 Magical Almanac: Practical Magic for Everyday Living, Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 90:
- There is also a strong draw on literature and film for ideas. Some steampunks will take a favorite character, such as Boba Fett, Alice, Dorothy, Professor Snape, or Sherlock Holmes, and “steampunk” him or her out by adding elements of leather (or faux leather), gears, clock parts, electricity, motors, and so on.
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References
- Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “steampunk”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 221.
- Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2023), “steampunk n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction. (genre)
- Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2023), “steampunk n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction. (writer)
- “steampunk”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
steampunk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Czech
Etymology
Borrowed from English steampunk.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈstiːmpaŋk]
- Hyphenation: steam‧punk
Noun
steampunk m inan
- (singular only) steampunk, a subgenre of science fiction
- 2014, Klára Šumová, Hra na lež, Ostrava: Domino, translation of The Lying Game by Tess Stimson, page 97:
- Ten styl se prý jmenuje steampunk, je to tak správně? Má to být obdoba viktoriánské gotiky.
- He says it's called steampunk. Is that right? Victorian Gothic. (Original English text.)
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Declension
Declension of steampunk
| singulare tantum | |
|---|---|
| nominative | steampunk |
| genitive | steampunku |
| dative | steampunku |
| accusative | steampunk |
| vocative | steampunku |
| locative | steampunku |
| instrumental | steampunkem |
Derived terms
- steampunkový
Related terms
- kyberpank, kyberpunk
- pank, punk
- pankáč
- pankový, punkový
Further reading
steampunk on the Czech Wikipedia.Wikipedia cs
Hungarian
Etymology
Borrowed from English steampunk.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈstiːmpaːŋk]
- Hyphenation: steam‧punk
- Rhymes: -aːŋk
Noun
steampunk (uncountable)
- steampunk (subgenre of speculative science fiction set in an anachronistic 19th-century society)
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | steampunk | steampunkok |
| accusative | steampunkot | steampunkokat |
| dative | steampunknak | steampunkoknak |
| instrumental | steampunkkal | steampunkokkal |
| causal-final | steampunkért | steampunkokért |
| translative | steampunkká | steampunkokká |
| terminative | steampunkig | steampunkokig |
| essive-formal | steampunkként | steampunkokként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | steampunkban | steampunkokban |
| superessive | steampunkon | steampunkokon |
| adessive | steampunknál | steampunkoknál |
| illative | steampunkba | steampunkokba |
| sublative | steampunkra | steampunkokra |
| allative | steampunkhoz | steampunkokhoz |
| elative | steampunkból | steampunkokból |
| delative | steampunkról | steampunkokról |
| ablative | steampunktól | steampunkoktól |
| non-attributive possessive - singular | steampunké | steampunkoké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural | steampunkéi | steampunkokéi |
| Possessive forms of steampunk | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | steampunkom | steampunkjaim |
| 2nd person sing. | steampunkod | steampunkjaid |
| 3rd person sing. | steampunkja | steampunkjai |
| 1st person plural | steampunkunk | steampunkjaink |
| 2nd person plural | steampunkotok | steampunkjaitok |
| 3rd person plural | steampunkjuk | steampunkjaik |
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English steampunk.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈstim.paŋk/
- Rhymes: -impaŋk
- Syllabification: steam‧punk
Noun
steampunk m inan
- (film, science fiction) steampunk (sci-fi subgenre)
Declension
Declension of steampunk
| singular | |
|---|---|
| nominative | steampunk |
| genitive | steampunku |
| dative | steampunkowi |
| accusative | steampunk |
| instrumental | steampunkiem |
| locative | steampunku |
| vocative | steampunku |
Derived terms
adjective
- steampunkowy
Further reading
- steampunk in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- steampunk in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Spanish
Noun
steampunk m (uncountable)
- steampunk