Coined in 1951 by science fiction writer Jack Williamson in his novella The Greatest Invention, published in Astounding Science Fiction. Williamson blended psi (used in parapsychology for psychic phenomena, from the Greek letter) with the -onics suffix from electronics, creating a word that framed psychic powers by analogy with applied science. Editor John W. Campbell, Jr. promoted the concept widely in the mid-1950s, and psionic became a standard term in science fiction and gaming, though it never gained currency in mainstream science or parapsychology.