Monday Word: Ansible

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

ansible [an-suh-buhl]

noun
(in science fiction) a device for instantaneous communication, or other purposes, across cosmic distances

examples
1. I could show them the ansible, but it didn’t make a very convincing Alien Artifact, being so incomprehensible to fit in with hoax as well as with reality. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. "What is an anisble, Shevek?"
"An idea." He smiled without much humor. "It will be a device that will permit communication without any time interval between two points in space." The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

origin
Shortening of answerable; coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her novel Rocannon's World (1966)

Comments

[med_cat]

Ah, so that's where it came from. Good to know, thanks; I had thought Orson Scott Card invented the word.

[prettygoodword]

Okay, what's that screen cap from?