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
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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