Ansible
- noun
- A device that allows instantaneous communication over any distance.
- Origin
- Contraction of ‘answerable’.
- Source
- Rocannon’s World
Necrosphere
- noun
- An airborne swarm of self-organising inanimate matter.
- Origin
- Nekrós (the dead).
- Source
- The Invincible
Neantics
- noun
- The ontology of nothingness.
- Origin
- Derived from neán (young).
- Source
- The Sanatorium of Dr Vliperdius
Cosmeg
- noun
- A single star containing all the mass in the universe.
- Origin
- Abbreviated from ‘cosmic egg’.
- Source
- The Gods Themselves
Emmish
- adjective informal
- Behaviour characteristic of an Emotional (as distinct from a Parental or a Rational).
- Source
- The Gods Themselves
Batcar
- noun
- A battery-powered vehicle.
- Source
- The Lathe of Heaven
Urbapt
- noun
- An apartment in a high-density urban zone.
- Source
- True Names
Psychopraxiscope
- noun
- A device purported to offer instantaneous viewing of any subject’s thoughts.
- Source
- Great Breakthroughs in Darkness
Chiaroscurography
- noun
- The photographic process invented by Leonardo da Vinci.
- Origin
- Formed from chiaro (bright), scuro (dark), and gráphō (to draw).
- Source
- Bruno’s Shadow
Neighborling
- noun
- A cohabitant from a lower level of the great indoors.
- Source
- Love Comes to the Middleman
Godshatter
- noun
- Fragments of a superintelligence melded with a human-level intellect.
- Source
- A Fire Upon the Deep
Agrav
- noun
- A material producing an anti-gravity effect.
- Source
- A Fire Upon the Deep