Creating Technobabble

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Categories: Technology | Terminology | Player Tools

Originally written by:
Lt. Cmdr. Tan Eryx
Retired Director, TF Science Corps

Technobabble. The word conjures up long and difficult sounding words with dubious, exotic and peculiar meanings. But what is it, exactly? And how do I create some of my own?

Encarta defines technobabble as: language in which technical jargon or terms are overused, with the effect of making straightforward information difficult or impossible to understand.

How do we create them? Primarily, with two things: Prefixes and Suffixes. A prefix is placed in front of a word, while a suffix is placed after a word. Sometimes, there is also a Root, which is located in the middle of the word.

Let's take an example. As a science officer, I declare that my specialty is "erythrology". Sounds interesting, doesn't it? But what does it really mean? It is a two part word. "Ology" is the suffix and means the study or science of. And "Erythro"? That is a prefix that basically means the color red. So, simply put, as an "erythrologist", I study the color red. (Not as interesting as it sounds, does it?)

How can we make it more usable? In this case, by adding another prefix. We can add the prefix "Helio" between "Erythro" and "ology". That gives us "Erythroheliology". How does this change it? "Helio" means sun or star. So an "erythroheliologist" studies red stars.

Technobabble can be often be misused. Many examples come to us from Star Trek: Voyager. One of the most cited examples is the word "isoton". It was used as a unit of weight measurement. Like most technobabble words, it sounds familiar yet slightly different. What does it mean? "Ton" means 2,000 pounds. "Iso" means equal. So an "isoton" is an equal 2,000 pounds? That makes no sense, of course. (What would an unequal 2,000 pounds be?) But it sounded good.

As a science officer, we should try to make technobabble as accurate as possible. If you have a good idea of what you're trying to convey, check the prefixes and suffixes carefully, in order to make as precise as possible.

Below is a table that you can use to start making your own technobabble. Good luck!

[edit] Prefixes

PREFIX	MEANING	PREFIX	MEANING	PREFIX	MEANING	PREFIX	MEANING
ant-, anti-	opposite, opposing	en-, endo-, ent-	in, inside of, into, within	inter-	between	pico-	trillionth
astro-	stars, heavens	erythro-	red	intra-	within, inside	poly-	many, several
atmo-	vapor	extra-	beyond, outside	iso-	equal, same	proto-	first, primary
auto-	self, same	femto-	quadrillionth	kilo-	thousand	pseudo-	false, deceptive
bi-	two, twice	ferro-	iron	leuc-, leuk-	white, bright, light	pyro-	fire
bio-	life, living organism, biology	geo-	earth, geography	macro-	large	quad-	four
centi-	hundredth	giga-	billion	mega-	million	quin-	five
chlor-	green	grav-	heavy	mela-, melan-	black	sept-	seven
chrom-	color	gyr-	ring, circle, spiral	micro- (1)	small	sex-	six
chron-	time	hecto-	hundred	micro- (2)	millionth	stell-	stars
circa-, circum-	around, or about	helio-	sun, star	milli-	thousandth	strat-	layer
cryo-	cold	hetero-	different, other	mono-	one, single, alone	sym-, syn-	together
crypt-	hidden, covered, secret	hex-	six	nano-	billionth	tachy-	swift, rapid
cyan-	blue	holo-	whole, entire	neo-	new, recent	tele-	far off or away, distant
deca-	ten	homo-	same, alike	non-	nine	tera-	trillionth
deci-	tenth	hydro-	water	oct-	eight	tetr-	four
du-, duo-	two	hyper-	excessive, above, beyond, over	pent-	five	thermo-	heat
dyn-	power	hypo-	below, under, less	petro-	rock, stone	tri-	three, thrice
ecto-	outside of	infra-	beneath, below	photo-	light	xanth-	yellow

[edit] Roots

ROOT	MEANING	ROOT	MEANING
-chron-	time	-morph-	form

[edit] Suffixes

SUFFIX	MEANING	SUFFIX	MEANING
-ary, -arium	a place for something, or location	-meter, -metry	measuring device, or measure
-chrome	color	-nomy	systemized knowledge of
-cide	destroy, kill	-oid	like, resembling, shape, form
-glyph	symbolic character, carving	-ology	discourse, expression, science, theory, study of
-gram	something written or drawn, a record	-scope	to see, observe or detect
-graph	an instrument for writing, drawing or recording	-statis	stationary condition
-ism	the act, state, or theory of	-synthesis	to build or create
-lysis	to break down, dissolve

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