# steampunk

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈstiːm.pʌŋk/ · frequency rank #30,983

## Definitions
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.
2. A writer of steampunk fiction.
3. A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.

## 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).

## Common misspellings (14)
`setampunk`, `ssteampunk`, `staempunk`, `steammpunk`, `steampnuk`, `steamppunk`, `steampukn`, `steampunkk`, `steampunnk`, `steamupnk`, `steapmunk`, `stemapunk`, `stteampunk`, `tseampunk`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/steampunk