Sci-fi

Sci-fi is an abbreviation for "science fiction", and in that sense is not a unique genre. "Sci-fi" is a popular term for people outside the community to use to refer to SF or variants thereof, and has gotten picked up by major commercial enterprises (like the Sci-Fi Channel) although it is sometimes disdained by people within the community. To some extent, "sci-fi" may be seen as the works which people who would use the term "sci-fi" would mean by it: e.g., space opera, Star Trek, and other media space-oriented franchises.

Forrest Ackerman reputedly coined the term. When told that Harlan Ellison had said the term was a "hideous neologism" that "sounds like crickets fucking," Ackerman produced buttons that said, "I love the sound of crickets making love."