sci-fi n.

= science fiction n. 2

Despite its origins as a neutral abbreviation for ‘science fiction’, sci-fi has long been seen as a shibboleth in the science-fiction community, many of whom perceive its use as an indication that the user is not a true fan, which would be indicated by the use of sf n. It is, however, the dominant abbreviation used outside of the genre. It is also used within the genre to refer to science fiction movies and television shows (as opposed to written works), especially those considered to be poor examples of science fiction.

Cf. slightly earlier sci-fi adj.

[probably by analogy with hi-fi]

SF Encyclopedia


SF Criticism

  • 1955 F. J. Ackerman The Odd Genre in Worlds of If Dec. 2/2 page image Forrest J. Ackerman

    I sometimes wonder how we struggled through the first 20 years of Scifi, we petrifying old pioneers, without knowing we were aficionados of a genre!

  • 1956 F. J. Ackerman Letter in Infinity Science Fiction Feb. 124/1 page image Forrest J. Ackerman

    November, 1955: The Star by today’s greatest British exponent of sci-fi is featured in the first issue of Infinity.

  • 1966 L. Carter Handy Phrase-Book in Fannish in Worlds of If Oct. 66/1 page image Lin Carter bibliography

    Time Magazine came up with a repellent neologism of their own a decade back…. They called it ‘sci-fi’—is nothing sacred?

  • 1980 T. Staicar Book Reviews in Fantastic Science Fiction July 11/2 page image Tom Staicar bibliography

    Rabkin is not one of those academic outsiders who takes a few days to read a couple of Hugo winners and then writes a treatise on fantasy and ‘sci-fi’.

  • 1986 N. Spinrad Science Fiction Versus Sci-Fi in Asimov’s Science Fiction mid-Dec. 178/2 page image Norman Spinrad bibliography

    Much science fiction and fantasy fails literarily because it is infected with the vices, commercial strictures, and pulp conventions of ‘sci-fi’…and much criticism of SF…ignores the crucial distinction between ‘science fiction’ and ‘sci-fi’.

  • 1990 D. Bratman Letter in Thrust (#35) Winter 28/3 page image

    Forry Ackerman…appears to miss the point of those who disdain the term ‘sci-fi’. There’s nothing wrong with ‘sci-fi’ as a word; indeed, it’s a very clever word, not least because it’s so easily transmutable into Greek (‘psi phi’). Full credit to Forry’s cleverness in inventing it. The problem is that somewhere early on the term became adopted as a constant (not just occasional, as Forry uses it) name for science fiction by people outside the field who knew not science fiction; a cognoscente’s in-joke for non-cognoscente.… The result of ‘sci-fi’ being used so heavily by people to whom science fiction meant bad monster movies was that ‘sci-fi’ has come to mean bad monster movies.

  • 1990 H. Warner, Jr. Letter in Thrust Winter 30/3 page image Harry Warner, Jr.

    Before long you could even find advertisements for hi fi camera film and hi fi reproductions of antique furniture. Hi fi became synonymous with everything that was cheap and had no relationship to genuine high fidelity equipment. Sci fi was just too much for me…and soon it became as meaningless as hi fi had been.

  • 1994 B. Bova Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells ii. 6 Ben Bova bibliography

    From here on, when I say science fiction, I mean stories the meet the definition above. Other areas of the field I will call SF. The term sci-fi, which most science fiction writers loathe, I will reserve for those motion pictures that claim to be science fiction but are actually based on comic strips. Or worse.

  • 2001 Science Fiction Chronicle Mar. 16/2

    My wife makes a distinction between science fiction and sci fi. Sci fi is all over the TV networks and the movie theaters. But…what they are doing is basically the pornography of science fiction. They're showing the excitement of it without showing the rationale behind the excitement. There’s nothing in any science fiction film series or television which excites the reasoning powers.

  • 2019 N. Okorafor Broken Places & Outer Spaces viii. 57 Nnedi Okorafor bibliography

    Even before I began to write science fiction, though I didn’t know it, I was sci-fi. In those moments, my athleticism really was a superpower. Now, when I write about characters with abilities, the gift of flight, time travel, shape-shifting, I draw from my own experiences as an incredible athlete. And for these characters’ conflicts and limitations within the narrative, I draw from my experiences with and recovering from paralysis.

  • 2022 H. Marks Letter in Analog Science Fiction & Fact July–Aug. 207/1

    The Science Fiction community likes to note (and promote) all those examples of where Sci-Fi has anticipated ‘real world’ developments long before they came into existence (rockets to the moon, etc).


Research requirements

antedating 1955

Last modified 2025-01-15 20:23:14
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.