Ansible

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/

Definitions

1. A conceptual apparatus that provides instantaneous messaging between distant parties in speculative fiction
2. An imagined tool facilitating immediate communication over any distance in narratives about advanced technology
3. A fictional device that enables real-time communication across vast distances in science fiction stories

Etymology: Ursula K. Le Guin invented "ansible" in her 1966 novella Rocannon's World as the name for a device that transmits messages instantly across interstellar distances, and the word was a deliberate piece of wordplay. She later explained that she had shortened "answerable," the sense being a device that a message could be answered on at once, with no lag from light-speed travel. The word quickly spread beyond her books. Orson Scott Card used it in Ender's Game (1986), Vernor Vinge in The Blabber (1988), and Dan Simmons in Hyperion (1989), so that it became a common shorthand for faster-than-light communication across science fiction. Its origin was confirmed in 2001, when a fan on a Usenet group asked Le Guin directly during a writing workshop and she confirmed the "answerable" derivation.