Standard Lemma guide

steampunk

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈstiːm.pʌŋk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A writer of steampunk fiction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To depict in a steampunk manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From 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).

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: парапа́нк (parapánk) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Belarusian: стымпа́нк (stympánk) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Czech: steampunk — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Esperanto: vaporpunko — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Georgian: სტიმპანკი (sṭimṗanḳi) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • German: Steampunk — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Irish: galphunc — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Italian: steampunk — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Japanese: スチームパンク — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Lithuanian: stimpankas — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Marathi: स्टीमपंक (sṭīmpaṅka) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Polish: steampunk — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Russian: паропа́нк (paropánk) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Russian: стимпа́нк (stimpánk) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Swedish: steampunk — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Swedish: ångpunk — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Thai: สตีมพังค์ (sà-dtīim-páng) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Ukrainian: паропа́нк (paropánk) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Ukrainian: стімпа́нк (stimpánk) — subgenre of speculative science fiction
  • Welsh: agerstalwm — subgenre of speculative science fiction
Real reading context

steampunk in complete knowledge articles