Prototype Worlds: A Glossary of SF Jargon is a glossary of SF coinages, collected for the enjoyment and education of SF fans, SF writers, lexicographers, and linguists.
Most of this glossary is words originally coined in science fiction to describe technologies that did not exist at the time of writing or SFnal ideas for which no obviously suitable mainstream term was handy (some of these have since become mainstream). Some words coined elsewhere but now used almost exclusively in SF (e.g. cyborg, ornithopter) are included.
The intent is to capture terms which are general to SF, not terms specific to one single imagined world. SF writers use, and experienced SF readers learn, a vocabulary that crosses multiple fictional worlds. This vocabulary of conventional terms conveys important information about the kind of world the author has imagined, and that world's relationship to the archetypes and tropes of SF.
Some terms used by SF fans in discussing SF, but not used in SF itself, are included. These are tagged "Critical term".
